Food Storage, Not Just For Storing

JULIENNE POTATOES . . . Not" Funeral Potatoes"

2012-01-22T00:47:00.001-07:00

I decided a long time ago that the infamous "Funeral Potatoes" were invented by the owners of funeral homes . . just to keep their business booming. With all the butter, sour cream, and cheese, it can give anyone a heart attack! This is just as ooey, gooey and yummy as any other.

1 C. Morrison Country Gravy Mix

1 t. Lawry's seasoned salt
1-2 C. Unflavored Yogurt
2 lbs. frozen hash browns, thawed
1/2 # grated cheese1/2 medium onion, diced

1--Mix gravy mix with cool water until well blended and set aside.
2--Bring 3 c. water to a boil. Add gravy mix slurry, blend well. Cook until thickened.
3-- Add yogurt, seasoned salt (to taste) and blend.
4--Toss hash browns and most of the grated cheese until they are mixed up evenly. Place in 9" X 13" baking
dish that has been sprayed. Add "slurry" and mix; sprinkle left-over cheese. Cover with foil.

Bake at 350 degrees until hot and bubbly. Remove foil and continue baking until the cheese topping is browned slightly.

**If you would like to shave the calories some more, use low fat cheese and make sure that you have plenty of slurry. It will melt and blend in nicely.

My New Calling. . . . and Blessing

2012-01-21T10:55:00.002-07:00

As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, I received a calling last Fall as a service missionary in our local area. Our university has a pretty large Institute of Religion where they have a $1 lunch each Friday for the students . . . and full-time missionaries and few other misc. staff and visitors. It has been one of the greatest challenges/blessings I have ever experienced. I love the "kids" (young adults) . They are a great group of young people who want to make good choices, do good in this world and follow our Savior's example and commandments. It makes for a lovely and loving spirit that can only lift those around them.

I have learned a lot! With the strangest ovens I have ever had the "opportunity" to deal with (was that put tactfully enough? . . they are a NIGHTMARE . . ah hem) to what will please the kids, make them feel that for just a few minutes, they can enjoy the tastes and love of home and help them relax and enjoy each other's company for an afternoon and there are a couple of grandmas (Sister Hays and me) with a hug ready and waiting for whoever needs it ( a couple of gramps too).

We have had near disasters, some pretty funny experiences and some great triumphs (in spite of the ovens). All add up to a new adventure each week.

My greatest practical lessons have been in creating yummy meals that can be done, from beginning to ready to eat in 3 - 4 hours. . . for a crowd of anywhere from 130, last week to 170 this last week. Never boring!

I thought I would share a lot of what I have learned on this blog while I wait to get together with my DIL so she can show me how to add tabs and organize it better.

Hope you find my adventures useful, convenient and tasty for your families. My family has been my tolerant if not willing guinea pigs for many of the dishes I have served down there! I will have family and group size recipes posted here.

POSSE STEW

2012-01-20T22:54:00.000-07:00

Posse Stew (for groups down below)

#401 Can of Pinto Beans

# 401 can of Hominy (I like to use yellow but the whole country seems to have gone white)

#401 can of Diced tomatoes

1 Dice onion

1 # ground beef, cooked

1 can of diced green chiles ( I use 1/2 can of green chiles that I dice myself)

Red chile powder or taco seasonings to taste.

**Equal amounts of beans, hominy and diced tomatoes. I usually use beans I have cooked myself.

Dump (dumping is an important part of the technique here) all of the canned ingredients into a big pot; add seasonings and simmer while you brown the ground beef and onion until they are softened. Add to pot and check your seasonings. Simmer a while until the flavors are blended nicely and serve with corn bread, crackers or whatever sounds good to you. This has always gone like hotcakes when I have served it!

When you have a big crowd, there will always be some that want it hot as hades. I put a bottle of Tabasco or Frank's Hot Sauce where they can add it to their bowls. Yesterday we also had a bowl of HOT diced green chiles that had been given to us that we knew we would never eat (wimps here). The kids liked both.

Tonight I will post the amounts I used for about 75 people and the chicken soup as well.

Posse Stew for a Crowd---

This should make about 14 quarts of Posse Stew and serve about 28 - 30 people.

I just realized that this would be a little hard since I was using left-over beans and beef from our stake BBQ in November. So I will figure it as well as I can.

# Ten cans hold 3 1/2 quarts of food. Did you know that? We always call them gallon . . NOT! So to fill young people, we get the big paper bowls that hold "20 oz." . That will give you a little head room with a good sized bowl of soup or chile. Keeping that in mind, here is how I start out the Posse Stew:

1 - #10 can of pinto beans

1 - #10 can of hominy

1 - #10 can of diced tomatoes

1/2 - # 10 can of diced green chiles (at home I often chop up a #401 can of "Hatch whole chiles" that come

in pairs at Costco)

2 # ground beef

1-2 diced large onions

Serve with cornbread, biscuits, grated cheese crackers . . it's all good.

This should make about 14 quarts of Posse Stew and serve about 28 - 30 people.

Getting the Heat Out of The Kitchen!!!

2011-05-27T09:30:00.001-07:00

It is that time of year again, I am NOT going to do much cooking in my kitchen. It is in the exact middle of my house and even with the new stove hood, which vent the heat out, I don't want to do much cooking in there.

Today, the family is gathering for an early Memorial Week End BBQ. We will of course have the standards, hot dogs and hamburgers, but I have secret surprise cooking for them. BBQ Pork Spare Ribs ala Wonder Box. I am about to put them on (9:30 am) and they should be absolutely falling off the bones by dinner time. All I will have to run the stove is about 20-25 minutes and the rest will be done out on the patio, just o get the box out of the way. Think of all the energy I will be saving. Time will be saved to since I won't have to check them once they ore cooking.

I already have baked beans in one crock pot and the funereal potatoes will be going into another one as soon as the ribs are tucked into the Wonder Box. The men can be manly and "man" the grill . . . not for me thank you very much!!

UPDATE: As usual, I checked the temperature of the meat as soon as I opened the pot and bag. They were still at 157 degrees, great !

The ribs turned out wonderful, in most respects, juicy and tender. There was a little hole in the bottom of the bag, so some of the BBQ sauce leaked out and some of the water leaked in.

Lesson learned: Check for leaks in the baking bag!

Summer Weather and All of It's Fun is Here . . . .Early!

2011-05-06T04:11:00.001-07:00

As I have been working my little tushi off to get my belated garden in, I have been watching the news a lot. In case you have missed it, a lot of people have been losing their power, water . . and they are the lucky ones in some areas! This was driven home when I read the following post on "Safely Gathered In". Click HERE.

Texas Sheet Cake, to Thrill a 5-Year Old

2011-05-02T08:33:00.000-07:00

Years ago, I learned to decorate cakes and thought it would be so wonderful to do special cakes for my kids as they grew up. My hot old hands (even when I was young) would melt the icing in those bags so quickly, so I had to resorts to other methods. Wish I had figured out how to use this "pouring" candy frosting a long time ago.

TODAY'S PREPAREDNESS LESSON:

Learn to roll with the punches, make it easy on yourself! Creating special memories can be fun and easy!!Now I can just have the kids guide me and give them what they want. It is often no where near as grandiose as we imagine. I have adopted the motto, " don't impress the adults, thrill the kids," I had more than one question about how I made this cake. Smart moms, smarter than I was!!

Texas Sheet Cake and Candy Frosting click HERE This will also show the cake I made last year for Garrett's 4th birthday.

So anyhoo, here is the low down on the birthday of our big 5 year old boy!!

The cake started with talking about fractions with Gabriel ( 6 year old brother). This is how his mother and my other kids were also introduced to fractions. . . cooking. The idea got mixed reviews from the kids, but Gabriel thought it was OK since he got to help me make the cake . . after which, I taught him the "fine art of scraping the bowl". That of course is a VERY important part of baking.

Next night, Garrett (birthday boy) got to help me frost the TX Sheet Cake. He made the same mistake that I tend to do, and went over the same spot too many times. Poor little guy looked up at me with such great big eyes full of panic. he was so sure that he had ruined his own cake. It was OK when I told him that we could put the requested island full of dinosaurs over it. The light blue frosting was poured over a coat of white frosting that was blocking out some of the brown from chocolate showing through. Garrett loved the spray that gave the "water" a little more dimension. Garrett was shown the fine art of scraping the pan after making the candy frosting for the cake . . also a VERY important part of baking.

The island needed to have some height so that there could be the requested water fall on it, so I made the second cake in various pans and bowls. It was supposed to be light chocolate so that would look better under the "sand".

We made a second batch of the candy frosting, tinted it a bit to make it tan colored and poured it over the "island". Garrett was getting pretty excited at this point as he could see his dream cake coming together. It was his job to place all of the fishes in the water and dinosaurs on the island. I did have him leave some space on that one area for a surprise shark that Gabriel had helped me find. It was BIG!! and had great teeth.

Garrett is talking about volcanoes a lot these days, so along with the shark, and water fall, I added some hot lava . . . he seemed excited when he first saw it over at the park, just before his party and then all of a sudden, got upset and wanted it "off right now"! It was just too late and then the guests started to arrive . . what to do, what to do.

He finally accepted and went to play with the rest of the kids. Whew!! You really can't tell, but there is a little Tiki hut on the backside of the volcano. I had hoped to put the five little candles at the top like fire coming out of the volcano, but he wanted to have the "five" candle up there. Oh well, it was his cake.

Tire Gardening . . The Next Chapter

2011-04-21T20:11:00.000-07:00

I have realized that this is not for the faint of heart. Cutting the side walls was hard work, even with a big supply of new, sharp blades and using the saws all. By taking my time and pacing myself. If I sound a little wimpy, I am 61, had health (breathing, asthma and other issues) since 2006. Though that has left me a "wimp" compared with what I used to do, I am thrilled to be able to physically accomplish what I have done this Spring.

It is dark, but in the morning I will take more pictures and talk about:

Where to find free tires.
Figuring the amount of soil that you will need.
Placement
What to plant in them
Some advantages of using them.
Using them for Winter Gardening

Because it is a little late for planting here, I have just purchased plants instead of starting with seeds, a little expensive, but after shopping around, I hope that I will be able to make it pay off in the long run!

New Category . . . . Thriftiness

2011-04-18T07:26:00.000-07:00

I am addicted to weddings and bridal or baby showers. I love to help at the celebrations surrounding these happy occasions. One reason I help with these is that it should be a wonderful happy time for those involved in them. I have offered my assistance many times to help out friends and it evolved from there.

I now have many materials to help create a base for decorating and fluffing. Arches, tulle, lights, greenery, table cloths, serving dishes, you name it. I am working on boxes to give lift to the serving tables for interest and create ease in self serving.

Why am I bringing this up? Have you ever watched the shows on "reality" TV that deal with weddings? It's insane! Now is the time to think out of the box if you are involved with one of these wonderful occasions in your life.

If you have or as you attend other weddings, start making calls if there were things that you could use in your event! When I go to a wedding, I am always looking for new ideas and what colors they have.

As you may be shopping, look at the "outlet" stores for serving and decorating pieces. Most of my crystal trays and bowls have come from Ross, Marshal's thrift stores. My goblets came from Costco, a real "splurge" for me. But they were a gonga deal or I wouldn't have bought them.

My arches were bought for half price after Christmas when my daughter got engaged that month. They have been used in so many weddings and parties that I have lost count.

I need to go out and work before it gets too hot. Can you believe I am saying that in April? I am, we have been over 90 degrees several time and even in the 80's is hot to me ;- ]

Out to my tire cutting . . . !

TIRE GARDENING , , FIGURING IT OUT!

2011-04-12T22:37:00.000-07:00

Today, as I was struggling with my little tools, OK, not so little, I realized that some people might not always know what I am taking about. So I have some more little pointers to share tonight

Tire with steel belted side wall.

First I will share a few pictures of the tools that have worked for me. Since the steel belts ate up the blade on the jig saw, I drilled several holes in it.

JIG SAW

To join them and make slot long enough for the saws-all blade to fit through, I cut through them with the jig saw.

When I fit the saws-all blade through the slot, I had to ease it in to keep from bending it. A bent blade makes it hard to control the piece being cut.

I don't know if they all have adjustable handles, but his one does. I have always used it with the handle bent down, but when I straightened it today, I could put more pressure against it and cut through the tire faster. I finally figured out how to keep the plate (that the blade goes through) resting on the tire to avoid vibration. Makes it so much easier to get the job done!

Next I turned it around so that instead of pulling it so that it was coming toward me, I was pushing against it. I could line it up and cut straighter and cut much faster! I was able to remove the side wall from a big tire, truck sized, in less than 10 minutes.

I hope that these tips will be a help to those who want to garden and have limited resources.

In a couple of days I will be picking up a load of good garden mix. It will be 1/3 native soil, 1/3 manure and 1/3 sand. I will also be picking up some good quality compost to mix in.

More soon, I hope!

Can You Sleep At Night?

2011-04-10T08:37:00.000-07:00

I ran this story about two years ago, but with all of the natural and man made troubles through out the world, I feel it is worth asking ourselves this question again.

A farmer needed an extra hand to help on his farm. One young man came to interview for the job. "What are your qualifications?" the farmer asked. "I can sleep when the wind blows," the young man said. This simple reply confused the farmer, but he was desperate for help and the young man was hired.

The young man was a diligent worker through the harvest season, but the farmer still questioned his answer.

Autumn ended and the first cold storm of winter came late one night. The farmer panicked as the winds began to blow. Calling the young man for help, the farmer grabbed his coat and pulled heavy boots on his feet. He was disappointed to find the young man asleep in bed at a time like this. Grudgingly he ventured out alone planning to shuffle all of the animals in the barn and then fix that last hole in the roof. He mumbled about the young man sleeping and was sure all the farm equipment was left standing in the field, collecting rust from the snow.

However, when the farmer reached the barn all the animals were tucked safely inside. In fact, clean hay had already been set out for the new day. Not a single hole could be found in the roof, and the tractor was parked perfectly in the shed.

"Who could have done it?" the farmer wondered. And then, he realized what the young man's answer meant,

"I can sleep when the wind blows."

Tire Gardening . . . More Adventures!

2011-04-09T18:20:00.001-07:00

MY GOAL !

I was delighted yesterday to see how easy it was to cut the side wall from a tire. It only took about 5 minutes per tire . . . THEN I went for one of the bigger tires. Did you know that in the big ole' tires, the steel belt goes all the way form the tread to the bead that is against the actual rim? Not funny!

I noticed a difference when I drill the pilot hole to put the jig saw blade in. The blade wouldn't fit, so I drilled a second one on the edge and made it longer. Then I started to saw away, or so I thought. I had to push that saw a lot harder and it went very slow. Then the smoke started sneaking out of where I was trying to cut . . . . . aw nice, burnt rubber . . every one's favorite . . . P-U!

I finally took the blade out, grabbed it with the fingers of my other hand . . . OUCH . . that baby was HOT! The good news is that I now realize that my numb finger has more feeling in it than I thought. I took a look and saw little sparkly things in the rubber of where I had managed to force the blade through. Ah ha moment here. The steel belt went farther than I had realized. So it was time to drill lots of exploratory holes. They all did the same thing, in all of the tires that I have left to cut.

This morning I took my third little grandson and he helped me pick out some saws all blade that are hardened to cut through metal and just as soon as it stops raining out there, I will go and try one of those .. . or see if I can sweet talk my main squeeze into doing it. It is only about 63 degrees here today, after having several weeks of over 80 and even 2-3 days of going over 90 degrees. All of us desert rats are going into a little shock here.

In the meantime, here are some pics of my first, successful, attempts at this new gardening adventures!

I just used an ordinary 1/4" drill bit to make the hole for the jig saw blade.

Using the blade with the larger teeth for metal cutting went around an average sized tire for a passenger car in about 5 minutes. There was no belt in the side wall.

Wah La!! Ready to be cleaned up and filled with a good garden mix!

The next tire was a large pick up tire with a steel belt up the entire sidewall. When you drill the pilot hole in the side wall, it will kind of catch as it goes through the steel belt. You will hear the wire break. If you hear that, see if you know someone with a saws all if you don't have one. I found the hardened blades made for metal at Home Depot. I have also seen them at Lowe's, so they shouldn't be too hard to find. Using those in the saws all, it took about 10 minutes to cut the side wall out. the saws all takes more hand strength to hang on to but don't let that scare you gals off from getting this done if you need to.

The metal cutting blade for the jig saw didn't have the hardened blade and the teeth were worn almost all the way off by the time I had cut about 12"-14"in that steel belt. Lesson learned. Good blades pay for themselves.

Tomorrow is Sunday, so this project will be completed on Monday. "See" you then!!

FIRST TIRE GARDEN IN THE FAMILY

2011-04-07T19:40:00.001-07:00

My kids beat me to the draw. I am proud of them for doing that.

I understand that it was pretty hard to cut straight with all the vibrating from the saws-all. Though it looks pretty good to me!

Mine isn't working right now, so I will be using a jig saw. . . . or maybe my husband will be able to get the saws-all going . . . and he, like my son, has stronger hands so will be able to help me . . . . I hope?

Economy . . . Ideas on How to Survive It

2011-04-06T15:40:00.001-07:00

My Piggy Bank after I filled my gas tank

I have been thinking a lot about the economy since I was filling my gas tank the other day at $3.45 / gallon of gas. I know, many others are paying much more already, but it is sending me into a little bit of shock. I used to fill my tank for that amount!

I was in college during the "Energy Crises" of the 70's. I had my suspicions during the holidays. I spent each day trying to fill my mother's tank while she drove the other car so she wouldn't have to. Got lots of needlework and reading done over that Christmas Break. When I got home, my roommate from Canada told me about all the reports up there showing all of our harbors clogged with oil barges that no one would unload, so I knew I was right.

Well, I now more than suspect that we are being manipulated again, for the good of only "Heaven know who".

My daughter's fave story
when she was little.. because it
reminded her of me

I do NOT believe in scare tactics. I feel they are counter productive and even harmful. I do believe in using good sense and taking action however.

So I am working my saggy old bottom (oops, too much info, sorry) to the bone doing what I have been talking to death for several years. I will be gathering more ideas and sharing them as I go along.

It is time to use ALL of our resources to build a way to be as self sufficient as possible.

Use our imaginations.
Pray for guidance of how to best use your resource. YES, I did say pray. I have found many answers to dilemmas through prayer. If you are a meditater, meditate. What ever way you choose, use it.
Talk to the funny old geezer up the street from you. Ask what people did in the depression . . . you either will find it pretty depressing or pretty inspiring. If they just depress you, be polite and find someone who had an imagination. My poor father had such a tale of woe, my father-in-law became a wonderful gardener. Guess who actually went hungry at that time. You decide what who you want to be like.
Look at your finances. I mean to really LOOK. Go through it & ask your self, "Do I really need that?", everything that doesn't sustain life and keep a roof over your head. Not make it prettier roof, just one that gives you shelter and a refuge from the outside world.
If you just HAVE to go to Disneyland this year, hope you enjoy it. . . as you are going to the store and grind your teeth over the price for the rest of the year.
Think of fun things to do as a family, at home or near by.

Have I turned you completely off to my ideas? Hope not. I have lived on such meager means and survived them, without incurring any debt. We have great memories ( now they are great) and we did't have to take nearly as long to recover after financial reversals.

On Friday I will be posting the pictures of our tire gardens. They will show how to cut the sides out, fill them with proper garden soil, all the how's and why's I can find and share with you!

Other grow boxes have been put in as well that I will share with you. Amazing what can be scrounged.

Just think of it as recycling!

NEW YEAR, NEW BEGINNING

2011-01-05T10:07:00.000-07:00

I do NOT make New Year's Resolutions. I have found that I am normal and make unrealistic goals, too many. That is the way to set a person up for total and complete failure and then they can find all time lows when they "beat" themselves up for "failing".

I doubt that I am the only one who has been doing a little extra (OK, tons!) cleaning with the intention of setting my house in order, literally and "biblically". Something about taking down holiday decorations just makes a soul want clean and clutter free!

I made the mistake of accumulating too much food storage too quickly and lost my living room for about three years. I had been using it as a kind of warehouse while refurbishing other rooms, one at a time. It was just the room we all walked through to get to the rest of the house ;-D
To make things worse, I stacked bulk food storage in one, then two back corners behind the stacks of furniture, etc. I was gathering extra to help each of my children's families get started. I jumped into all of this without a good plan, just felt like it was important to gather food while my husband's income would support it. We felt sure that leaner times were coming. It was good to gather the food, let me make that clear, I just needed a better and more complete plan. Time proved we right about the net take home pay. We are grateful for the guidance we were given and that we felt enough urgency to heed it.

Loooong story not quite so long, I had 4 mice get into the house when the weather turned cold, they had a hay day so I lost some of the foods that had not been stored away, had such chaos surrounding me that it was almost paralyzing, and just lost control of pretty much everything.

All of the foods have been packaged for long term preservation and now I am inventorying, and creating a chart to track it's use and replacement and creating a little more storing capability that is out of the way but has easy access.
I will be sharing all of this as I go along. Some will be by reposting old posts, by sharing links to great information and by new posts.
Due to the anticipated in reduction in my husband's reduced net take home pay and easier access, we are using our storage more. I plan to share new ideas as I come up with them or will share the links to other sites when I find ideas that help me.

Cheating . . . .. Reposting as I Reorganize.

2010-11-23T20:35:00.000-07:00

Life has been just too hectic! I have been trying to reorganize and get back to posting, even have a slew of pictures . . . some of which are in the camera that has been missing for a couple of months now. Hoping my almost two year old grandson didn't toss it into the trash when I wasn't looking . . . his favorite past time lately. If he did, I guess it will be a big lesson learned.

Cynthia Layne Photography:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1535885607&v=photos

In the middle of all this, my daughter had a double surprise. No not twins. A little one snuck in on them about 6 months earlier than they had planned (no one wants to be PG in southern AZ in the summer) and after 3 little boys, they had a girl.

After some big scares and major surgery, our little miracle (doctor's words) is home and doing well. Life is not exactly back to normal, but we are grateful for what we have!!

Pic taken 3 days before our tiny miss landed in the NICU.

So as I am going through to start our family Thanksgiving dinner, I will bring the recipes up to the top to share them.

These are all made from my pantry to keep the $$ down and nothing has the evil little substances that set my grand kids on their ears and Nanny/Papa's nerves on edge . . . . .

Cornbread Dressing or Stuffing

OK . . . . I know this is ridiculously late, but hopefully it will be helpful sometime during the holiday season. I made my own dressing/stuffing this year. Not by buying the mix at the store and adding the broth, eggs, and other goodies, I made it all from scratch. OK I cheated one time. I had some baguette loaves in the freezer and cut some of those up to for the bread in my dressing. I did make my own cornbread with the seasonings, etc. in it. Had to chase my hubby off a couple of times while it was drying out in the oven, so it must have been pretty tasty. OK I

confess, it snitched too, it was tasty!

1. First I made regular cornbread with some 2. Added flavors. I also added a couple of teaspoons of chicken broth powder. Since that is salty, I eliminated the salt in this batch. I had to look poultry seasoning on the internet because I was out of it. It is mainly sage with marjoram, thyme and a dash of pepper and cloves. I skipped the cloves. 3. To tell if your cornbread is done or not, check to see if it has pulled away from the sides of the pan slightly. It should also have the cracks that you see here. This is a double batch spread out in a cookie sheet to dry more quickly for making the dressing.

4. Break the cornbread and set back into the warm oven let it dry out. You can cut or break it into what ever size you want for your dressing. I guess I did it this way because that is how my dad always did it. Next time I will just let it cool and then dice it up. 5. I used some left over baguettes for the bread. Cut or break it up as you did the cornbread. 6. Now for the really tasty stuff. Dice onions and celery, saute in butter or I used olive oil.

This year I also added some scrambled some sausage and chopped some craisins (dried cranberries) at my daughter's request. They did add some great flavor. I mixed all of this together, covered it tightly, put in the back of the fridge a couple of days before Thanksgiving. On the big day, I just had to beat a couple of eggs, add the chicken and turkey broth and toss it into the oven for half an hour. Great little time saver!

HELP! I'm a Ditzy Old Lady . . . With Good Intentions!!

2010-09-01T09:33:00.000-07:00

I don't know why, but I am having the hardest time getting pictures and text organized in my posts right now.

I am working on several posts that keep getting jumbled. As soon as I figure things out there will be more.

I am also working on a site that will be more organized and easier to find what might be of interest to you.

Please hang in there, it should get better soon and I am trying lots of new ideas and ways to used food storage.

I am also needing to drop the last 30 lbs. so that I can faze out some to the too many medications that I take every day. As I de-fat and health-itize my favorite foods, I will be sharing those ideas with you. Using food storage of course.

Sweet & Sour Pineapple Chicken Camping Style

2010-07-27T21:34:00.013-07:00

First a disclaimer: You can make this in a casserole at home if you want. It turns out just as yummy!

If you would like to refer back to the original recipe where I got this idea, you can click HERE.

Now for the real thing!

SWEET & SOUR CHICKEN ala FOILIE

Rice--Steam enough to give each person about 1/2 c. each serving. Minute rice is great if you are out in the wilds! If you want to be safe from burning, line the bottom with cabbage leaves before the rice layer.

Chicken--I have used raw, canned and left over (can you tell that I love this stuff?). They all work. Plan on 3 - 4 oz. per person.

Veggies -- Anything goes! Here are some examples of what I have used.

Carrots, slivered
Celery, chopped
Zucchini or Yellow Squash, diced or sliced
Onions, diced
Mushrooms, sliced
Broccoli, chopped
Cauliflower, chopped
Green bean, chopped
Cabbage, sliced
Sweet peppers
Just about anything botanical ? Make it gorgeous dahling, if it's pleasing to the eye, it tastes better!
Pineapple-- chunks or tidbits are fine, actually I cut the chunks down to tidbit size. Save the juice!!

It's easiest to have all these all chopped and ready to go. I set them all out in containers and let each person "build" their own foilie. Even the little munchkins can have quite an opinion.

Scatter the chicken around through the veggies to distribute the flavor. Now add the pineapple and scatter it about . . . ready for the sauce?? Yum!

I make the sauce out of:

1 c. --Pineapple juice, add water to make it come to about 1/2 c. per foilie
1 T. --Apple cider vinegar, white or rice vinegar is also OK.
1 T. --Sugar
Tiny pinch --Ginger per cup of sauce, powdered if you are camping
Good squirt --Catsup, not really authentic, but it's good mind you, good (from the great book, Guerrilla Wife, ever read it?).
Soy sauce, a good dash per cup of sauce or according to taste.
Corn starch, 1 t. per cup of sauce
Salt, if you want more salty without so much soy sauce.

Now for the "procedure". Grab a cup to the side. Carefully some of the juice into the cup. Notice I didn't say how much? This is not an exact recipe here. It all depends on what you like and how much there is left to be distributed amongst all the diners. Making it all in one batch might be the easiest. So grab a bowl . . . .

Put in the juice, vinegar, sugar (sugar and vinegar should be equal amounts) , ginger, catsup, and soy sauce into a bowl. Mix them up good stir. Add the corn starch and stir again. Scoop half a cup in each foilie.

That night, I warmed the sauce up in the microwave, stirring it every minute so to thicken it. I have made it out in the wilds and just put it over the food so that it would thicken as it cooked. Worked fine.

I tried to get pictures that would show how I brought the sides of the foil up to contain the sauce until I wrapped the dinner. This is actually a large one for my hubby and me. I covered the top with a second piece of foil and then folded all the sides like I usually do the top and sides.

Cook it on coals as you usually would. Being so large, I cooked it for 35 - 45 minutes on moderately hot coals. Who could resist this?

Believe It or Not!

2010-07-27T12:26:00.001-07:00

Believe it or not, I have been busy trying new ideas with my food storage and cooking outside. I have also been making bread and treats. I have even been taking pictures! Left is a giant foilie of the sweet and sour chicken.

I have also fallen in love with making this Artisan Bread. I am trying to figure how to make several smaller ones for bread bowls. Each baking dish needs a lid.

It has been a busy time with getting ready for another school year of baby sitting and just cleaning out thirty two years of accumulating marriage junk . . . Let me make it clear, I am getting rid of the junk, not the husband!

I am finding it hard to organize everything so that I can get to it to rotate through using my food stuffs on a regular basis.

I hope to start posting all of these tonight . . . after the grand sons come over to paint and make some wooden toys.

What Not To Do?

2010-07-16T08:36:00.002-07:00

I love blogs, you can make a total fool of yourself and who would know if they see you on the street. I made some of the one hour bread last night. Hubby came home and I rushed it so that I could get to bed, it was 11:00 pm and I was bushed. Aren't a great "little" wife (not)?

Here are the pictures, such as they are. I did try making it using some non-soy ingredients since my grand son comes over a lot and can't have the soy. Today, I am going to go ahead and make it from original recipe. I have several issues to correct, as you will see. I am sharing these with you to save you the problems :-]

Here is the recipe with the experimental ingredients in blue. I did cut the whole thing in half until I have it coming out right and soy-free.

Pantry Secrets Bread

10 ½ cups bread flour or whole-wheat flour (or combination) ( I used white & half whole wheat)
½ cup sugar
1 Tablespoon Salt
3 rounded Tablespoons SAF Instant Yeast
3 Tablespoons soy lecithin (or 2 1/2 Tab. dough enhancer or both) (1/4 c. oil , 1 1/2 T. vinegar & 1/4 c. gluten flour)
4 cups HOT tap water (or 3 cups hot water and 1 cup applesauce)

Mix dry ingredients (and dough enhancer if using). Add lecithin directly into 3 tablespoon indentations in the flour and water. Mix for one minute and check for consistency. If dough is too dry or lumps to one side, add more water. If dough is too moist, add a little flour. Mix for 5 minutes for white bread, 10 minutes for wheat bread. It will eventually clean the sides of the bowl. Dough will be sticky. Don’t add any more water or flour after it has finished mixing.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray counter and bread pans with cooking spray. Cut dough into 4. Shape loaves and cover with a dish towel. Let rise 20-25 minutes without touching or moving the dough. Bake for 25 minutes. If using a convection oven, bake 14 minutes. Immediately remove from pans to cool.

1. I let the machine knead the dough for 5 minutes and it wasn't as smooth as it usually is so I gave it another couple of minutes, it didn't help. 2. Pour a small amount of oil on the counter. 3. Spread it out for molding the dough.

4. Form the dough into a smooth ball by kneading a few times by hand. Let it rest for a minute or two. 5. Cut the dough into equal portions. Remember that I cut the recipe in half so I only have two loaves worth.

6. Work the dough into a smooth roll and pinch the bottom good to make sure it holds smooth while baking.

7. Put the dough upside down into the well oiled pan to coat the top with oil and them flip. 8. Let it rise in pans with towel over to keep the top from drying out. If it is day time (or even night in southern AZ) put it outside and it'll rise like crazy for you! 9. Bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees. My favorite way to cool bread is to place it inside of a brown paper bag on top of a cooling rack. When it is pretty cool go ahead and put it into plastic bags.

I will make another batch exactly as the recipe says today and share that with you. So far I am not having the best luck, but Angela's was wonderful, so I know it is me, not the recipe.

LESSON LEARNED: Try out new recipes before you are depending on the results. I usually make good bread! This is also why it is so important to learn to make bread before you need to. It does usually take a little practice so it would be great to be a good bread maker before you are dependent on it!!

SNEAK PREVIEW: This is the Artisan Bread recipe that Angela gave me at the same time as the Whole Wheat Bread. It turned out so good last week end that I doubled this batch! Pictures and results later today. It needs to "stew" for a few more hours!

Promises, Promises . . The Bread Is In The Works!

2010-07-15T07:51:00.000-07:00

If anyone tells you they are sad or bored with their "empty nest", have their head examined! I am blessed and lucky to have my kids and grand kids nearby. This summer my daughters (including my DIL) are helping me pull my house together. So when they can come, everything else goes straight to the back burner.

The bread is in the works, I am taking pictures and will be writing up the post through out the day as I go. Should be on tonight as I sink my teeth into the nice fragrant warm bread, straight out of the oven and dripping with some butter and home made jam. Can't you just smell and taste it already? My hubby will love coming home to it tonight!

ONE HOUR WHOLE WHEAT BREAD

2010-07-11T23:13:00.002-07:00

I will be doing several posts in this series. First let me" introduce myself". I started making bread by hand when I was still single, in the mid-seventies. It was light, delicious, and held together beautifully. I had no idea why, I just worked with it until it was right. I also realized that kneading bread by hand could give you quite a work out, good for the arms, especially the triceps and even for the abs.

Fast forward . . . got married was broke as a church mouse when my husband changed careers five months later and it had to be good or we were in trouble, since I couldn't go out and buy some. OK, I still had a little pride intact at that point and had to preserve a little dignity. I married a really nice guy who had great cooks in his family. He was the poor old bachelor (30) that everyone liked to take care of, so I had to live up to that. The point being, please don't ignore this thinking, "I have a good recipe, don't need this". It is good bread and who doesn't want to stretch their time in each day?

First -- I will post the original recipe
Second -- will be the making of the recipe with pictures and results.
Third -- will be tweeking and playing with the recipes, because I am me, this is my blog and I can't help myself. Angela said that it was OK because she did the same thing . . . wish I had gotten to know this kindred spirit earlier than a week before she moved!
Fourth -- I have learned a lot this week as I have used different ingredients, some of which I can't use if my grandson is going to be eating it. I will be learning more as this process takes place and will share the good, the bad and ugly with you. Left my pride behind me years ago and just want to make this life a growing experience for me and for anyone I can spare you the same "failures" that I may have . . . I am a mother and seem to take that old hen approach with any one around me. Blame this one on my mom, she was that way.
So from an "Old Dog" , please don't write this series off if you feel you have nothing to learn. I am 60 and still learn more every day. Some of these are so quick it hurts. Time is a priceless commodity in today's world. This will help.

Some of the first lessons I learned :

Know Your Machine --- When Angela showed me how to make this bread at her house, it was kneaded for 10 minutes. When I did it at my house before teaching the bread class, the dough was really weird, lumpy and just wouldn't work up to a nice smooth surface like I am used to when forming loaves. I finally realized that her machine had a dough hook like this. It is a large industrial sized Kitchen Aid, just like I thought I wanted to replace mine with. She said that it has a hard time kneading a four-loaf batch of dough when it is pure whole wheat flour. So now I am wondering, like I can afford to buy anything right now . . .

I have an old K-TEK machine that I bought about 25 years ago. I made 6 loaves at a time, often twice a week. If you notice, there are actually two hooks on this one and the white "flat arms" that stick out are stationary, so the hooks are pulling the dough against them while kneading. Very efficient, but can murder your gluten in a heart beat if you don't pay attention. Who knew? This wasn't the first time it has happened, just the first time in years.
So the moral of this long winded epistle is, read your owners manual!

Pantry Secrets Bread -- Angela's tweeks in ( )

10 ½ cups bread flour or whole-wheat flour (or combination) -- (we used 8 of whole wheat and 2 white all purpose flour that day)
½ cup sugar
1 Tablespoon Salt
3 rounded Tablespoons SAF Instant Yeast
3 Tablespoons (liquid) soy lecithin (or 2 1/2 Tab. dough enhancer or both)
4 cups HOT tap water (or 3 cups hot water and 1 cup applesauce)

***It is important that you measure all ingredients very accurately!!***

1. Mix dry ingredients (and dough enhancer if using).
2. Add liquid lecithin directly into 3 tablespoon indentations in the flour and water.

*** I tried to make one with a quarter cup, didn't work, so just make Tablespoon holes Loved this little trick!***

3. Mix for one minute and check for consistency. If dough is too dry or lumps to one side, add more water. 4. If dough is too moist, add a little flour.
5. Mix for 5 minutes for white bread, 10 minutes for wheat bread.
6. It will eventually clean the sides of the bowl. Dough will be sticky. Don’t add any more water or flour after it has finished mixing.

7. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

8.   Spray counter and bread pans with cooking spray.
9. Cut dough into 4 equal pieces..
10. Shape loaves and cover with a dish towel.
11. Let rise 20-25 minutes without touching or moving the dough.
12. Bake for 25 minutes. If using a convection oven, bake 14 minutes.
13. Immediately remove from baking pans and allow to cool on racks.

Old Dogs Can Always Learn New Tricks!

2010-07-11T02:42:00.002-07:00

I just spent a very long wonderful day with all good things to do and learn, It was Super Saturday at church for the Relief Society. If yo are not familiar with that group, it is one of the auxiliary for women, 18 and over in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. All of us who participate find it to be a wonderful support for us and our families. We have leaders who are called to teach, serve and mentor us, whatever age and stage of life we may be in. It is a privilege to serve in Relief Society which brings growth to us when we are in that capacity as well.

Some times we have "Super Saturdays", where we just get together and do things, learn things and enjoy the time to be together as friends, sisters and mothers/daughters. It got a little long for Mariah and I since our day started with Bountiful Baskets at 5:00 am. Linda, in the middle, was pretty well in charge today since the others presidency members were not able to come.. No one can make a girl feel more welcome and comfortable.

I did teach a quick class about making bread and learned so much. It 's kind of funny, I have been making bread since the mid 70's and just learn/relearned many bread making principles. After all those years making it by hand, I still have to remember that machines can actually over develop your gluten. I absolutely destroyed one batch one batch and then wiped out the yeast trying to keep some attack dough live and workable so that everyone could knead it and get the "feel" of good bread dough texture. It was so funny/weird watching it sit there and just go belly up . . . . . . will share all of this tomorrow with pictures as I make it all over again and do it right!!! The little gal on the right with the dark ponytail was my partner in crime at Girls Camp. she laughed when I told her that we were making dutch oven bread. I was't kidding. The Artisan bread can and would bake beautifully in a dutch oven. Yum!! I'll have to do that on Monday.

ARTISAN BREAD -- I just had to try these recipes. I can not tell you how good this was! It takes a little preplanning, but it was gone is 10 minutes. If you ever go to restaurants and wish you could take home tones of that lovely bread with the light crunchy crust and wonderful melt in your mouth soft chewy insides, you want to try this bread!! It's easy and will make any simple meal gourmet! Wish I had taken pictures of it. I will tomorrow!

ONE HOUR WHOLE WHEAT BREAD

2010-07-09T06:13:00.002-07:00

No your eyes don't deceive you! I learned how to make this a couple weeks ago and will be trying it on my own today.

First I am about to drag my "old Feller" out of bed to finish my kitchen mess. In case your wondering, he LOVES it when I get "In Over My Head" (Oh wow, that sounds like a good TV show, doesn't it? :-] ) and he gets to rescue me.

Anyway, back to the bread. The bread was really nice and soft. Angela's girls were pretty excited that she was making it and kept coming in and out to see if it was done yet. Jon & I had a hard time staying out of it so that we could have my girls try it.

OK, admit it, you're curious. . . . maybe even a little interested! Angela shared a big ole bunch of recipes with me, so don't miss this next batch of adventures!!!

I even made room in my freezer so that I can have a ball and not lose any.

I will be making them with the good ole hard red wheat and hard white wheat. If yo live nearby, drop by and I'll share some!

CAMP COOKING RECIPES -- Good for Cooking In Backyard BBQ to Take the Heat Outside!!

2010-07-08T19:15:00.003-07:00

I found most of these at recipezaar.com It is one of my favorite websites for looking up something new.

Perhaps I should have used my own, but I never write them down and change them every time I make something, depending on my mood at the time. When I do try to measure and write a recipe down, it never seems to turn out as well. Some times that is partly the reason that it takes me so long to get something posted. I am working on it and early next week, I will make some of these again, add pictures and share my tweeks . . . . you KNOW I have them.

Fire-Roasted Veggies Recipe #28126 1¾ hours | 10 min prep SERVES 4 -6

· 2 medium potatoes, cubed into approximately 1/2-3/4 inch pieces

· 1 green pepper, sliced into approximately 1 inch pieces

· 1 medium onion, sliced into approximately 1 inch pieces

· 1 head broccoli, florets,only,discard stems

· 2-3 tablespoons mccormick's roasted garlic monterey poultry seasoning

· 1 tablespoon garlic powder

· 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

wash, and slice all veggies as directed.
place in large resealable plastic bag, add McCormicks Seasoning, and garlic powder.
seal bag and toss, to distribute seasoning.
add olive oil.
reseal bag and toss to coat veggies again.
pour veggies into med foil pan, cover with aluminum foil, puncture foil a few times with knife to create vents.
place on med fire, for about 1-1 1/2 hours.
cook longer is desired.
note: i am more of a dump cook the seasonings mentioned are approx.
use more or less as you choose.

PINEAPPLE CHICKEN Prep Time: 45 minutes Total Time: 45 minutes Servings: 4

Ingredients:

· 4 skinless chicken breasts

· 1/4 cup catsup

· 2 tablespoons cider vinegar

· 2 tablespoons brown sugar

· 1 small can pineapple chunks, drained

· 1 green bell pepper, chopped

· 1 small sweet onion, chopped

· salt and pepper, to taste

Preparation:

Make the sauce first. You can make this ahead of time at home and bring it to the campground in a container in your cooler. First, chop the pepper and onion into big chunks. Then mix all ingredients (except the chicken) in a sauce pan and bring to a slow simmer stirring occasionally.

Next tear off a piece of foil big enough to wrap each chicken breast. Spoon some sauce onto each piece of foil, place a chicken breast on top, and spoon more sauce over each breast. Salt and pepper to taste. Wrap foil tightly and cook for 30-40 minutes over campfire coals or on the grill. Turn occasionally.

Camp Pineapple Upside Down Cake Recipe #210566

We make this whenever we go camping and it really does taste just like pineapple upside down cake. We usually put the packets on the grill grate on the camp fire ring if there is one; if not, we use our BBQ grill.

by JenniferK2 10 min | SERVES 12

· 12 cake doughnuts

· 12 slices pineapple

· 1/2 cup butter, softened

· 1 cup brown sugar

Cut 12 large squares of aluminum foil.

Cut doughnuts in half the way you would a bagel.
Spread the cut side of each doughnut half with 1 tsp of butter and sprinkle with 1/2 tbsp of brown sugar.
Top half of the doughnuts with a pineapple slice, then with the other halves of the doughnuts.
Seal each doughnut tightly in foil.
Lay over medium coals for about 10-15 minutes, turning halfway through. Open carefully as it will be very hot.

Prep Time: 10 minutes Total Time: 10 minutes Ingredients: 1 can biscuits, squeeze butter, 1 stick

Preparation:

Roll out a biscuit with your hands so that it becomes elongated and about one inch thick at the center. Wrap it tightly around the end of your stick and pinching it as you go to insure that it stays on the stick while cooking. When done wrapping, the biscuit should take up about six inches of the stick. Heat over the campfire until golden brown. Pull it off the stick, pour butter down the hole left by the stick, and enjoy.

DESSERT BURRITOS

Ingredients:

tortillas
pie filling - blueberry, cherry, apple, ...
chocolate chips
mini-marshmallows
peanut butter

Notes:

This dessert has become our favorite. It is Sweet, easy, has very little clean-up, and doesn't get hands really messy if a little care is used.

Instructions:

Open the cans and put a spoon in each one.
Tear off squares of aluminum foil.
Put a tortilla on the square of foil.
Add peanut butter or pie filling.
Sprinkle with chocolate chips and/or marshmallows.
Roll up the tortilla and fold the bottom edge in.
Wrap foil around tortilla and place on grill above fire or on ash around edge of fire.
Wait for the ingredients to melt.

Hints:

· Main problem is putting too much stuff in the burrito - try to talk people into taking smaller amounts.

· Put all the tortillas in a foil wrap and carefully heat them before so they are more flexible.

· Putting tortillas directly into the coals will burn them - keep them away and rotate often.

Each person should mark his burrito wrapper somehow so he knows it is his - special foil fold or permanent marker or series of poked holes in the foil

Campfire Orange Rind Cake Recipe #310705 LDSMom128 1¼ hours | 15 min prep

12 -15 Cakes

· 12-15 oranges

· 18 ounces white cake mix

· 3 eggs

· 1/2 cup oil

· 1 cup water

· aluminum foil

Prepare the oranges by cutting off one end. Save the parts cut off for later. Remove the pulp from the oranges, but leave the rinds intact!
Make the cake batter with the cake mix, eggs, oil, and water. Stir well.
Pour the cake batter in the orange rinds, about 1/2 full. Put the tops of the oranges back on the orange. Wrap the oranges in aluminum foil.
Lay the wrapped oranges into the hot coals from a campfire. Cook for about an hour or until the cakes are cooked through.
Enjoy Eating out of the orange rind!

PITA POCKETS

Ingredients:

1 pkg pita bread
1 can spaghetti sauce
1 cup grated cheese
1 pkg sliced pepperoni
optional: sliced black olives, pineapple chunks, diced peppers, ...

Notes:

Use precooked meat since you are just heating it up.
Mark your own foil with a special fold so you know its yours.

Instructions:

Cut each pita in half and spoon spaghetti sauce into pocket spreading it evenly.
Add cheese, pepperoni, and other toppings.
Wrap in foil and place in coals. Cook for a couple minutes, flip, and cook another two minutes.

DESSERT BURRITOS

Ingredients:

tortillas
pie filling - blueberry, cherry, apple, ...
chocolate chips
mini-marshmallows
peanut butter

Notes:

This dessert has become our favorite. It is Sweet, easy, has very little clean-up, and doesn't get hands really messy if a little care is used.

Instructions:

IRISH FOIL DINNER

2010-07-08T15:18:00.000-07:00

How many of you just can hardly wait until St. Patrick's Day comes around each year? OK, we don't wait now, we used to when the kids were younger, but now we celebrate several times a year. Wouldn't that be a wonderful, hardy meal when you're camping, or just want to bake it outside on the coals or grill? Here we go!!

STEP ONE: Cut a nice thick slice of watermelon.
STEP TWO: When the knife falls, don't catch it . . to avoid the next step.
STEP THREE: You didn't listen to me did you? Now go get a band-aid while I wait!

Ingredients:

Cabbage
Corned beef (left-over or canned)
Onions, diced
Potatoes, diced

Building your Foilie:

Lay out plenty of foil
Spread the cabbage leaves (a layer of shredded cabbage would be good in this one)
Break up the canned or cut up the left-over corned beef
Sprinkle around the leaves, along with the diced potatoes and minced onion.
Salt and Pepper to taste

Wrap it!:

Bring the two edges of foil together, evenly.
Fold over about 3/4 inch. Crease tightly and smoothly.
Fold a second time
Turn the fold down flat on the top of your foilie
Now do the same with the ends

Sorry the pics are not very clear. I will try again using paper and when I have some here to snap the camera!

Pantry or Camping Style Ingredients: Easy to keep from spoiling

Canned Corn Beef
Dehydrated Diced Potatoes
Dried Minced Onions
Dehydrated Shredded Cabbage

  Oh gross!!! Blah! Now stop it. I used lots of these kind of ingredients at the with the Girl's Camp and they:
   A. Didn't know the difference
   B. Loved the food.

Rehydrate the Dried foods :

Hot tap water will help speed the hydration, if you are camping, plan ahead and warm the water, but don't have boiling or anywhere near it! They won't come out as well.
While you are cleaning up from breakfast or lunch would be a great time to start this for the next meal.
They say that it only takes - minutes, but I find they cook up better if they have more time.

Assemble and Wrap:

Just like you would do the foilie from the fresh ingredients. I actually used a mix to use up some fresh foods that needed it before they spoiled.

When Life Jumps the Track . . . . .

2010-07-08T09:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I had this . . . . . .

Now I have this . . . . . .

And one very pathetic old cupboard.

Hang in there folks, I will make those foilies for lunch, since I can't use my kitchen very well right now!!!

FOIL DINNERS . . . . A WRAP . . . & SOME RECIPES

2010-07-07T06:50:00.000-07:00

Need to work outside before it hits 100 degrees . . . wish I was kidding. Any way, I will post some of my favorite recipes, mostly that I mentioned HERE and also show how to wrap a foilie so that it doesn't leak.

I also bought some more charcoal yesterday so I can do them up in the back yard so that I can discuss "How hot are your coals?" This will be under shade back there of course. Do I sound like a big old wimp . . . I am when it comes to HEAT. And guess what . . I'm not ashamed . . . I figure with this hair, I've earned it!

"See" ya later this afternoon.

WONDER BOX HAM & BEANS

2010-07-06T21:34:00.001-07:00

I tried making pinto beans in the wonder box today. Last time I lost track of time and they set there for 8 hours. . . . too long!!

1. Cook ham bone in crock pot from morning to afternoon.
2. Drain the broth into a container and put it in the fridge to chill.
3. Clean beans and put on to soak overnight. Reminder is HERE
4. Next morning, drain and rinse beans.
5. Pull meat off the ham bone and add to beans.

6. Scoop fat off the top of the broth.

7. Add broth to beans, making sure the pan is good and full. The level of the liquid is very important. Always have the pot very full for using the wonder box!

8. Boil the beans for half hour with the lid on. This is longer than I usually do, but I am finding that it will help to get the beans soft enough.

9. As soon as you take the pot off the burner, get it into the WB.

10. Since this pot has a long handle, I made sure the bag wrapped up around it for a tighter fit.

11. As soon as you have it nestled into the bag, get the cover on it. speed is important. Every second that it is exposed, you are losing heat!

12. After 4 hours, the temperature was 180 degrees. The beans were very tasty but still had just a little "crunch". At 5 hours, it was 175 degrees and still had that little "crunch". At this point, I took the pot out and simmered them for awhile until they were completely soft, all the way through.

13. I happened on this great box that is just the right size. It is a definant improvement. It has kept the little critters of all kinds off of the WB. It gives me something to grab if I need to move it. It holds the hear in even better.

The dimensions are 19" X 19" and 17.5" tall. It could be just 14" tall and be fine. Wal-mart carries these baskets, so if you wanted to get one, they could probably help you out. They usually are pretty good about saving boxes for customers.

GERMAN CHOCOLATE CAKE . . . . DUTCH OVEN OR BBQ GRILL STYLE

2010-07-06T19:40:00.001-07:00

Finally, here is the promised post!
Topping Ingredients:

1 - Egg Yolk (save white for cake)
1 C - Canned (evaporated milk)
1/2 C - Butter (I used to use margarine in the old days, it was OK)
1 C - Chopped Pecans
1 1/2 C - Flaked Coconut
1 t. - Vanilla (oops! not in the pic!

Melt butter or margarine in a pan sitting on the coals.
Pour that into a bowl or one cake pan.
Add canned milk, sugar. Stir it up good.
Add coconut,chopped nuts and vanilla. Stir it up good again.
Divide between the two cake pans.

Cake Ingredients:

Cake Mix- - -from the store
Oil (amount called for on package)
1-white from egg
Water

Dump the cake mix into a bowl.
Add the water, oil, and egg white.
Beat it by hand for a few minutes. Like that clear precise direction? I ten to over beat cake when using a mixer. Makes a very embarrassing DRY cake. so now, I take out my whisk and beat it good by hand. When my hand gets tired, I figure it has to be just right. Make sure it is nice and smooth with no lumps, this a cake, not a biscuit after all.
Now to "spread" it over the topping. Kind of tricky. I plop dollops (spoons full) all over the topping.
Now gently spread the dollops with the back of a spoon by lifting a little while spreading. That helps the topping stay in place.

Baking These Babies! - - - In Coals

Place the cake in the dutch oven and put on the lid.
Sit the dutch oven on top of a layer of hot coals.
Put coals on top of the lid. I usually put on six to eight coals.
Bake a little longer (five to ten minutes) than the package says to. The topping is adding a lot of moisture and some insulation on the bottom, so it does take longer to get done.

Baking in the BBQ

1. One of these really helps! My hubby lit ours the other day for our foilies It hit 500 degrees even though the burners were all on low. Probably need to use only one of two of the burners. Our three burner ended up just keeping one on to lower the temp enough. As you would indoor oven, preheat the BBQ. I did use one of the little oven thermometers like you would find in the kitchen ware dept at the store before I had one built -in.

2. Now you can bake the cake in the dutch oven, in the BBQ or just place the cake on the grill like you would indoors. My best one was baked in the pan, in the dutch oven.

3. You can check for "doneness" by poking the top with your finger and seeing if it springs back or stick a toothpick in it to see if it comes out clean.

4. If you leave it in the dutch oven to cool, plan to wait a while! They do hang on to the heat for a long old time.

5. Loosen the sides with a spatula or knife, whatever is handy.

6.Tap the cake out onto a plate. This has been the trickiest part so far. I usually forget to set a timer and let it cool too long ;-] It did help when I rewarmed he bottom a little on a stove burner.

7. If all else fails, scrape the topping out and reapply to that half naked

cake!!

8. Serve with a lovely, tall, dripping, ice cold glass of milk!!

DUTCH OVEN GERMAN CHOCOLATE CAKE

2010-07-04T17:49:00.001-07:00

I made this today . . . . now I need to get the veggies, fruities and dips ready for a get-to-gether tonight. I'll post the pictures, instructions and all that later tonight!! It was baked in the dutch oven in the BBQ. No way was I doing the coal thing in this heat!!

In fact, this is is what the thermometer read when I went out there.

Think this will be a wonderful place to let the bread rise tomorrow. What do you think?

IS IT STILL THERE . . . . . IN OUR HEARTS?

2010-07-04T16:27:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, I was thinking about celebrating our Independence Day on the Sabbath. It is so appropriate. When you read about the signers of the Declaration of Independence, you find out that many of them were wealthy family men who really weren't financially troubled by the taxes and other restrictions placed on them by England. They had all that they needed in that respect. They had not much to gain and so much to lose by that one action. Many of them did just that, lost a lot, in some cases, even some or all of their family members. Were they saints, no, but who among us are. How many of us would have the courage to risk so much for others? I love and appreciate these men and look up to them.

I appreciate that they were God fearing men who began all of their meetings with prayer, calling on God to assist and guide them as they set into motion the events that would establish our country. I thought of this as I sang our national anthem as Sacrament Meeting started this morning.

This is a blessed nation. It was even before it's conception by man. They were driven by worldly riches so many times and unknowingly set the stage for this Promised Land to be brought to fruition. Yes, in the long run, many riches were discovered. Gold and silver to start with, later other natural resources that have enabled us to grow and lead in the industrial period that brought so much wealth, incentive to think out of the box. To improve what men needed to make their lives easier or even just possible. So much vast land that is so fertile.

I thank our Heavenly Father every day that I was so blessed to live in this land. That I was sent to a pretty humble family who taught me to work hard to meet my own needs and the needs of my family. I thank Him for a mother whose faith was unshakable. She didn't always have the greatest understanding of Gospel Principles, but she taught us to search prayerfully and never, never give up. To draw on any and all resources to find the eternal based answers that He had for me. To be patient while waiting for those answers. By waiting I mean "productively waiting". Continuing to do all that I can. God and Christ will know when I really have done all that I can, and then they will step in to give me what I need to accomplish or understand.

I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior. I know that he experienced all the pain, anguish, and regrets that I would some day experience as He atoned for my sins and mistakes. I also know that he rejoices with me in those moments when I and my loved ones celebrate the the happy times. I know that by sending me here, they expect much of me. I am thankful for that blessing and embrace the responsibility that comes with it. I also know that They feel the same way about every person on this earth.

This whole thought process began during the opening song in Sacrament Meeting this morning. I lose my emotions every year when we sing patriotic songs at church.

Please take the time to read all of the words in our national anthem.. Please open your minds and hearts as you read them. Try to put yourself in the shoes of Francis Scott Key as he was being held prisoner on a British ship and asked repeatedly, "Is it still there?"

The Star Spangled Banner Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light, What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thru the perilous fight, O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming? And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep, Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes, What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep, As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses? Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam, In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream: Tis the star-spangled banner: O, long may it wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion A home and a country should leave us no more? Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution. No refuge could save the hireling and slave From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave: And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O, thus be it ever when freemen shall stand, Between their loved home and the war's desolation! Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation! Then conquer we must, when our cause. it is just, *And this be our motto: "In God is our trust"* And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

History: In 1814, about a week after the city of Washington had been badly burned, British troops moved up to the primary port at Baltimore Harbor in Maryland. Francis Scott Key visited the British fleet in the Harbor on September 13th to secure the release of Dr. William Beanes who had been captured during the Washington raid. The two were detained on the ship so as not to warn the Americans while the Royal Navy attempted to bombard Fort McHenry. At dawn on the 14th, Key noted that the huge American flag, which now hangs in the Smithsonian's American History Museum, was still waving and had not been removed in defeat. The sight inspired him to write a poem titled Defense of Fort McHenry. The poem was eventually set to music that had originally been written by English composer John Stafford Smith for a song titled "The Anacreontic Song". The end result was the inspiring song now considered the national anthem of the United States of America. It was accepted as such by public demand for the next century or so, but became even more accepted as the national anthem during the World Series of Baseball in 1917 when it was sung in honor of the brave armed forces fighting in the Great War. The World Series performance moved everyone in attendance, and after that it was repeated for every game. Finally, on March 3, 1931, the American Congress proclaimed it as the national anthem, 116 years after it was first written.

Foil Dinners . . . . More Of the Story

2010-07-03T17:57:00.005-07:00

I made these with my girls and the grand kids yesterday. With all that we were trying to do in one day, I didn't get quite the set-up to photograph that I wanted so I will share a little of the results and try to do some on "dressing them for success" (wrapping). . . man was that just too corny? You will see why in a few lines {:-D

We set out all the choices for every one to pick from. Each mom had one child at a time come in to make their "foily".

I used several ingredients from my food storage. Every thing that has an * came from the can. ** means it was dehydrated!

This is an easy way to keep the fat content in your foods way down. I cut away all the fat I can while chopping the meat. It makes the veggies so tasty that kids will usually eat them better than they do at other times.

GOOD STUFF FOR FOILIES

3 - 4 oz. cut up meat/foily (we had chicken and fajita beef)
**chopped mushrooms
**minced onions
**diced bell peppers
*pineapple chuncks
zucchini, chopped
**carrots, sliced
** diced potatoes
chopped celery

Seasonings:

**Lawry's
**Mrs. Dash
**Spike
**McCormick's Salt Free All Purpose
Salt & Pepper

Sauces--

**Magic Mix + Beef Broth mixed with water
Sweet & Sour -- I'll put the recipe for this with the recipe later tonight with the Pineapple Chicken Foily instructions. You'll love it!

Little warning-- These sauces are runny unless you cook them first to thicken them. You can turn the edges up around the foil to hold it until it in until you wrap it up, but it is still a little tricky. My sauce poured all over the table because I really didn't pay attention. The kids seemed to think it was a pretty good show. . . BUT . . .

Notice something that I didn't put out there? Cabbage leaves. Yes, I had half a head in the fridge and didn't put it out. Silly me, decided to break my own rule since we were going to be cooking them in the BBQ grill so I thought it would be controlled enough that we shouldn't have a problem. So hopefully, others will learn by the experience of me and mine!

Most were able to salvage most enough for lunch, but we did a lot snacking since there was so much loss.

I guess I kind of cheated, I made the Sweet & Sour Chicken with lots of sauce. It did turn out heavenly. I will put that whole recipe on later tonight or tomorrow.

Planned Posts for the next few days :

Sweet & Sour Pineapple Chicken
Spice Cupcakes in an orange rind or foil cup cake liner
German Chocolate Cake in the dutch oven

I hear these went over big at Girls' Camp . . . don't miss them!

FEEDING GROUPS AND GIVING CHOICES with FOIL DINNERS

2010-07-01T18:58:00.001-07:00

We didn't get any pictures of the set-up yesterday at camp, so I will try to recreate it here at home. Tomorrow I will start posting more details with pictures. I'm serving them to my family this whole weekend ;-?

I have been asked to feed a lot of groups over the years ranging from cub scouts, family get-to-gethers, girls' camp, retreats, and just camping as a family. I realized that I was drawing from that when I put the camp cooking classes together. The three main dishes all had choices for each person to make according to their appetite and taste.

With summer here, these would work so well at so many gatherings. Just think of how happy it will make my family the rest of this miserable season (Southern Arizona has been hit with it's annual mug and it is miserable) when they will all get to make their own choices and it is cooked out on the BBQ or patio so they can eat in relative "less discomfort".

FOIL DINNERS or FOILIES

Rules for Success

Foil--Don't scrimp on foil. I have seen more disasters because of this one mistake. You need to be able to seal the dinner really well to preserve moisture, keep ashes, dirt, and whatever else is lurking around out of our food. Even with this, you'll have plenty of grit for your gizzard, if you get my drift! I have used regular weight successfully when there were no little piggies who made huge heavy dinners. If you aren't sure about it holding up to the flipping and long cook time, go ahead and wrap a second time. If you have a bunch of guys, go ahead and play it safe with heavy duty.
I never make mine 2" thick. Inch and half at the most. You'll be more likely top have it cook evenly. Ever had one that is black half way through and then raw in the middle, YUCK! Dangerous too.
Meat--I always cut or break up the meat and scatter it through all the other ingredients. I know you have all seen the hamburger patty, bleeding in the center with blackened veggies all around. A slab of chicken can leave you with the same e-coli or salmonella. with built-in charcoal to help with the problems.
Cabbage Leaves-- I know . . . . "I don't like cabbage!" If you are making big foilies, these nice juicy leaves can go a long way in preventing food from burning or drying out. They insulate, add moisture to help steam your meal and the flavors to blend do nicely. IF you must, just chuck them when you eat, BUT, be brave, try them. I have seen so many kids nibble, nibble, smile and eat them up! I do love it when I'm right, or when I'm wrong and learn something new.
Sauces-- A lot of people like to use some of the good old canned creamed soups. Since I do love gravy, I like this idea. Since I need to watch the salt and the fat, I avoid them. It's just another choice you can give everyone. There are also gravies in cans, bottle or packs. Another option would to put some liquid in it, very carefully and sprinkle in some powdered gravy mix. With the Pineapple Chicken, I mixed all the sauce ingredients in a bowl, added a little corn starch and poured it in the pouch just before I wrapped it up. it thickened while it cooked. Loved it. It would have been easier to add and keep it in the pouch if I had cooked and thickened it first, but that would have been harder in the "wilds".
Seasonings--Salt, pepper, and Lawry's are the required ones of course. I also like to use some imagination. Try Cajun, Mexican, Italian, Mrs. Dash (there is a variety, have some fun), Spike (the precursor to Lawry's), maybe some garlic powder. The sky's the limit!

Here are some good combinations:

Traditional--Hamburger (broken up), potatoes, carrots, onions. Try adding some celery, peppers, mushrooms, corn, just about any veggies that you like.
Irish--Canned corned beef (broken up), diced potatoes, minced onion, cabbage, required this time {:-D The cabbage could be leaves or chopped up to make it easier to eat everything all mixed up in each delicious delectable bite. Oh boy, I 'm getting hungry . . . .
Ham-- Just substitute ham for the corned beef. It can even be a canned ham. If I was using a canned ham, I would dice and brown it first. I suppose, if you were raised the way I was and you could actually stand the thought, you could use Spam . . . . . I can NOT believe I just wrote that. But camping is camping and I have been amazed how many people didn't consider being fed that was cruel and unusual punishment. My own son went to Hawaii on a mission and came home warped and liking Spam. He talked me into trying his favorite Ramen noodles with diced Spam and BBQ sauce . . . . . AARRGGGGHHHH! He's been home for 8 years and still insist it's delicious.
Pineapple Chicken -- This seemed to go over big at Girls' Camp. Our family is making it tomorrow for supper. I will post it with pictures tomorrow night.
Home Cooking -- OK let's really think about getting our minds out of our little boxes. How about taking care of all those little Macaroni Dinner lovers out there. Cook some noodles or macaroni and set out the selection. This would be a great time to use some "sauce" or cabbage leaves so the pasta doesn't dry out while the other stuff melts or cooks. Think about it. What are your favorite casseroles? Oh, yum, wouldn't that be wonderful to dig in to that wonderful, gooey yumminess?

COOKING--Just lay these in the coals and turn once in awhile. Use long tongs and be very careful so that you don't find your shoe melting . . . no, I haven't done that but I did have to pull a girl out one time before the heat melted through!

Home Version or Get the Heat of your Kitchen--Bake all these in your backyard BBQ. Don't have one? Have you ever used your crock pot for an oven? They work quite well. Sometimes, I do put a little water in the bottom and use a rack to raise the food above it. This is not the fast way to do it, but if you live in an apartment that has an "outdoor space", get that heat out of your kitchen! Just plan on getting an early start. An electric skillet (or griddle) would also work out there. How about your favorite toaster oven, mine spends most summers on our patio.

CAMP COOKING WITH THE GIRLS

2010-06-30T21:01:00.002-07:00

The day is over. Kathy was wonderful, wish I had a picture of her up there. She was taking the pictures of the first group and then was manning the two heaps of coals.and getting all those cute little foils packs cooked. We decided that it would have been way better with three of us . . . . and that was with LOTS of help coming in and voluterring from all the adults leaders up there who were not occupied at the moment. I had to teach them as well., but they were so great to jump in . . . and saved the day.

Here are just a very few pictures. . . . . . . . can you tell that it was the third day for most of them in a very hot, dusty dirty camp? The camp is over 7,000 ft, but just how cool can you be when you are surrounded by HOT desert?

Finally got there after following slo-o-o-o-ow construction trucks all the way up.

The girls seemed to really like all that we made. Only one chicken foilie didn't get eaten completely. Everything else got eaten.

I may be wrong, but the best news of the day was when some of the leaders came & wanted to check out what the girls were talking about. some of the girls had to come back to get their orange spice cupcakes, and showed up . . . happy Dance! Just talked to Kathy and she said that everyone was still talking about the food later in the day (she stayed up after I left to come home). there is the reference for the dishes that I will be posting tomorrow and Friday. Didn't get pictures up there since we were working so fast, so one guess what I will be eating the next couple of days . . . . but NOT heating up my kitchen!!!

Each class was 45 minutes. In that time the girls were able to put together Baggie Omelets, HERE, Orange Rind Cupcakes, Pineapple Sweet & Sour Chicken Foilie, and Chile Stacks in a Bag, HERE. By the second group they got to eat everything except the cupcake. before they left. Just to give you sense of time.

HAVE YOU GIVEN UP ON ME YET?

2010-06-29T09:09:00.001-07:00

Believe it or not, I have been very busy this week preparing to teach some of the youth at our church's summer camp. I made these at home and will be posting all I have experimented and later this week.

This is Sweet & Sour Pineapple Chicken made in a foil dinner. Yes, I played with it. for one thing, I had a bunch of orange slices left over from making Spice Orange Cupcake in an orange rind, so I threw in some of the slices!

Sorry there is no picture of the cupcake, but we will be making them with 13-14 year old girls tomorrow and will have lots of pics then. They were so good!

Then, how many of you love German Chocolate Cake? It only took two tries to get it just right in a dutch oven. Not pretty, but hey, you have to hurt it to eat it, right? It fell apart when I forgot to let it cool a bit before flipping the pot over Hey on the way to a sewing class to learn how to use my digital machine to its full potential.

See you all on Thursday!!

BTW . . . . . I just learned to make 4 loaves of Whole Wheat Bread in one hour, yes I did just say that, ONE HOUR!

I will share that with you on Friday!!

Have you Checked Out This Website?

2010-06-19T19:49:00.001-07:00

I was cruising around and ran across this website again. For some good giggles and pointers, check it out. He is good at teaching some very basic cooking principles! Cook Like your Grandmother.

FRESH PEACH PIE

2010-06-19T08:45:00.001-07:00

My SIL told me about having this pie a couple of years ago and it sounded so yummy!

Here is how I made it.

Ingredients:

12 oz peach nectar
1 T. lemon juice
3 T. cornstarch
1/2 C. sugar (plan to double in the next pie)
4 peaches (about 3.5" to 4 " diameter)
1 baked 8" pie crust HERE (I don't have a post for crust and I know hers is great!)
Whipped topping (your choice)

Directions:

1--Mix nectar, sugar and cornstarch in pan. Heat until mixture thickens. Cool in fridge .
2--Make the pie crust and bake in pan. Remember to prick it before baking or you will have a big ole puffy sopapilla! Yeah, I forgot. Had to poke it back down
3--Peel the peaches and drop in water to keep them from turning dark.
4--Slice peaches to desired thickness. I liked the slices that were sliced pretty thin, under 1/4" at the thickest side.
5--Mix the slices and nectar mixture.
6--Pour filling into shell after it cools.
7--Top with whipped topping of your choice.
8--Chill in fridge for a couple of hours

As we were eating and critiquing the pie, I asked the girls what they thought would make it better. Brave, aren't I? ( I have often left myself open for all kinds of "opinions" and now get them whether I ask for them or not!)

My daughter suggested using a cookie crust. I do like that idea. Here is the recipe for those HERE.

My DIL thought upping the sugar in the saucy stuff to counteract the tartness of some of the slices would be good. I think that would be good and keep the light freshness for summer weather. I must admit, I liked the tartness, but I am such an ole sour puss that that isn't surprising!

When we finish the second pie, I will use up the rest of my peaches and share the results with you.

I was just enjoying another piece of my Fresh Peach Pie and found that the crust was just a little soggy in the bottom of the pie. Drat! I forgot to brush it with egg white! The sides of the crust are still good so I just scooped the filling and grabbed a little crust from the side. :-O

Bake your crust for about 10-12 minutes at 400 degrees, brush with slightly beaten egg whites. Bake until it is lightly golden and looks dry.

ANGEL BISCUITS ----- Using Oil . . . not shortening

2010-05-29T16:19:00.004-07:00

If you have never tried these, you must! They are great little dinner rolls or wonderful biscuits for breakfast. They will also keep for up two weeks in your fridge. I always at least double the recipe . . . that's the only way I ever have any dough for later. Give them try! Picture is biscuits made with left-over dough.

Angel Biscuits

INGREDIENTS --- Wet Stuff

2 T. yeast, dissolved in 1/2 c. warm water with a sprinkle of sugar. (set aside until ready to add)

1/ 2 c. oil
2 c. Buttermilk (you can use milk soured with vinegar or lemon juice, it just won't have quite the same flavor . . . you know what purist I am about buttermilk! If you do use this method, give it a few minutes to curdle)

INGREDIENTS --- Dry Stuff

5 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
4 t. baking powder
1 1/4 t. salt
1/4 c. sugar

Mix all of these dry ingredients in a medium bowl and make a well in the middle of it for the liquids.

MAKING THE DOUGH ---- Good Stuff

Add all the wet ingredients into the well of the dry stuff at one time. Mix until you have a nice blob of dough. I have a hand mixer with pretty good power and so I use that. When it is mixed pretty well, I flour my hands and start kneading the dough. I often have to knead for a while until I work a little more flour into the ball so that it's no longer sticky. Keep it soft.

Roll it out on a floured surface to about 3/4 " to 1 " thickness. Cut with a round cutter. I usually use a large canning jar ring. Arrange on a greased or oiled cookie sheet with at least an inch between if you want them to be more like traditional biscuits. If you want them to be more like traditional dinner rolls, have them almost touching.

Bake at 425 degrees for about 15 minutes. Starting checking them at 12 minutes for the brownness that you want.

To store the leftover dough, place in a container with a tight lid or a sturdy Ziplock bag that has been sprayed with pan spray. Make sure there is growing room! It will rise!

LEFT-OVER DOUGH

Take the dough out of the fridge. Knead it down, roll it out and cut as before. If you want them to be as fluffy as the first batch, you may want to let them sit on the baking sheet for up to ten minutes before baking. I usually don't have time and they haven't disappointed me yet!

Low Fat Hashbrowns . . . With Butter! Fresh and Dehydrated Potatoes

2010-05-22T13:40:00.005-07:00

I just opened this up to finish it and found a blank page. No wonder I didn't get it posted.

Growing up and most of my adult life, I made hash browns by frying them in half a stick of margarine in a ten inch skillet. Yummy, yes, BUT a real killer, literally. I stopped all that 50 lbs. ago and still haven't gained it back.

One of my favorite hobbies is now to take old favorites and making them healthy while still keeping the yummy. This is how I plan to get the next 30 lbs. off and be healthy again!!

Here's what you'll need:

6 - 8 oz. potato
Butter flavored pan spray
1/2 t. to 1 t. butter
salt, pepper, seasoned salt, or spices blends that you like. I have used Cajun, Mexican, various Mrs. Dashes and Spike.

Now let's talk spuds. Not all of them are created equally and can be prepped in various ways.

Russets -- our good old stand-by that we have all grown up with. Peel them, grate them and go to town. If you want the nutrients that are concentrated just under the skins, scrub them good. I keep a brush in my kitchen just for scrubbing veggies in my kitchen. Does that seem like an obvious point? I caught one of my kids scrubbing away one day with the brush that I used on dirty dishes before loading them into the dishwasher. YUCK! So I now have a little tub label "veggies". It holds a variety of cleaning tools that I still run through the dishwasher frequently for food safety sake. If I want the russet skins to be a little less "woody", I use the dark green scrubber on it. You can tell the one on the left is a little lighter from being scrubbed this way. Makes it a lot more palatable, if you get my drift. If you really that woody texture, just use the brush.

Golden, Yukon, Red and other thin skinned potatoes. --- I love these varieties, however, occasionally, I have found that the golden and yukon can make pretty mushy hash browns. I believe it was when they were very wet for some reason. Now, if there seems a lot of water, I blot them with a paper towel or to be thrifty, I use one of my clean up rags that has been bleached. I never peel them, just scrub them good with a brush and check for spots that are really weird.

Dehydrated Potatoes ------ I have found that the dehydrated potatoes usually double in size when soaked in water. I think this is one of the best additions for your long shelf life food storage. If using shredded style, just rehydrate in your fridge the night before or earlier in the day if using them for dinner. If you are using slices or dices, you will enjoy them better if you steam them for a few minutes after re-hydrating them and before frying them in your skillet. I have found that if you don't steam them first, they tend to turn very chewy and tough. Just not the texture and yumminess we are love to eating.

Time to shred --- I have found that using a course grater makes them better. A fine grater makes them cook into more of a solid mass. If you want them to make a kind of patty with all the shreds melding together, use the finer one. Trim the bad spots and shred.

1. Give the pan a good coat of pan spray. When it is good and warmed up, put in half to a whole teaspoon of butter and spread it around good. Sprinkle the potato shreds evenly around the pan.. Pat them down with the edge of the spatula. If you use the flat side of it, they will be denser and cook up less tender. Season with salt, pepper. seasoned salt, or any of the blends that Mrs. Dash makes. They are all good!

2. Cover the pan with a lid to help them cook through tender. Check once in a while to see when they are browned as much as you would like. When they are, spray the surface with the pan spray just before flipping them. Loosen them around all the edges and then flip them all at once if you can.

3. Tap them down with the edge of the potatoes again and let them cook until they are browned to your liking.

Now to make them even better let's talk about really tasty! Planning ahead can make the big difference when it comes to using pantry foods. I almost always rehydrate my dried foods over night for the next day. Think about what you have. I love to add diced peppers, celery & minced onions, just mixing them with the potatoes. Everything is placed in water the night before in the fridge and it's all ready in the morning by draining it all.

Sometimes I sprinkle a little cheese (of course it's low-fat and only 1 oz.) over them as the second side is cooking and drizzle some salsa over it on our plates. There is a whole meal in one dish when you add a little fruit on the side!

Summer is Coming!

2010-05-04T07:33:00.006-07:00

I am busy like all other gardeners and still babysitting the world's most adorable grandkids, usually my monkey boys, if you get my drift. But hang in there with me!

Our weather has been getting hot, cooling off . . . . back and forth. So blame Mother Nature for my not getting my summer kitchen up and running.

HERE IS WHAT IS COMING UP:

Getting the Heat Out of the Kitchen -- Summer cooking on your patio or under shade in your back yard. I;ll even swallow my pride and share with pictures this year.
Camping --- Baking on your Coleman stoves (liquid and propane), dutch oven cooking & whatever comes up as I go along. Once I get going here I will remember other ways I have used to feed up to 50 people using only camp equipment!
Cooking with Limited Resources -- You never know when you may lose your power or gas source. we used to have happen every summer in the violent summer storms. We still do, or when a drunk driver takes out a pole or two.
Wonder Box Cooking -- I recently made some pinto beans, took pictures and then got sidetracked with grandkids so they sat there for 8 hours. They were good and soft, but beans can be dangerous. I would NOT suggest that! Anyway, I have taken my wonder box out, shooed my two legged and four legged puppies off of it. I have also put it into a box that was just the right size. I will share some pictures of it & where to get one if you are interested.

Hoping you will stay in touch!

STRAWBERRY CHEESE CAKE - NO BAKE, HEALTHY & DELICIOUS!

2010-05-02T20:41:00.005-07:00

Last year I posted this on making a No-Bake Cheese Cake. You can see this post HERE.

Today, I finally got around to making one with a crust, a wonderful glaze (if I may say so myself) that went over with all ages, 6 months to 62. Hope you take the time to try this one.

CRUST:

1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 cup flour

Combine melted butter, flour & powdered sugar. Mix well. Press into a 9" - 10" pie pan or 9" square pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Cool.

FILLING:

Mix:
1 envelope unflavored gelatin (2 t.)
1/2 c. sugar
Add:
1 c. boiling water ( I heated it in microwave to good & hot)
Mix until gelatin is dissolved, about 5 minutes.

Beat until smooth:
2 c. (2-8 oz. pkgs. ) cream cheese (of course I used some that I had made from powdered milk!)
2 t. vanilla
Add hot mixture gradually the cream cheese mixture while beating. Pour into prepared crust. Chill until set.

GLAZE:

1 1/2 c. "Strawberry" juice (frozen Apple, Kiwi, Strawberry concentrate)

1 1/2 c. water

2 T. sugar
1. Mix sugar and gelatine together and set aside.
2. Mix juice concentrate and water in a pan, bring to a boil.
3. Add sugar/gelatine mixture and stir until dissolved.
4. Cool then spread over cheese cake.
5. Sprinkle the sliced strawberries over top.
6. Chill for at least 30 minutes.

This glaze was pretty "tangy" and was enough to cover a 13" X 9" rectangular pan. It has so much flavor. The whole family hadn't realized that the glaze that you buy in the store had no flavor.

I doubled the cheese cake filling and the crust to fill the 13" X 9" pan.

BOUNTIFUL BASKET - - - - - MAY 1st - - - - - Here's Some Ideas!

2010-05-01T14:49:00.000-07:00

Mexican Gray Squash - HERE

Cucumbers - HERE

Salsa Verde, using Tomatillas - HERE

Looking for the Grilled Artichoke Recipe!

HERBS FOR YOUR GARDEN!

2010-04-29T19:41:00.003-07:00

I just found a wonderful post all about herbs in your garden.

I just made tomato soup using basil and oregano from my garden. It is so delicious! If you haven't started planting, hop to it!

Check it out the post HERE.

POWDERED MILK - - - - REALLY USING IT DAILY

2010-04-23T09:14:00.002-07:00

Right now I am using powdered milk daily, several times daily. Putting myself on rations has been good for me. I am finding out where I have stored way too much and where I am perhaps short.

Other good information I have gained, is that. as short as we feel we are financially, we are doing better than we were 25 - 32 years ago. Back then I wouldn't have cut a hot dog up in our omelet this morning and I would have used re-hydrated TVP that had been saute'ed in bacon grease.

I always go looking for new information when I return to using my supplies. It's impossible to have too much information, at least in this department!

Today I am gleaning all I can from this website on EHow.COM . Check it out HERE.

Little Side Note - - I have always mixed my non-instant powdered milk in blender. I bought this little gem to make baby food and other small blending jobs. Since it had a smallish traditional blender top, I sent my big top over to my single daughter and her roomies. Little did I know that this top would allow milk to slosh everywhere! I really don't need any help in the messy dept.

Yesterday I decided to try the way that my mom always blended flour and milk or water for gravy.

I put half the water in a gallon jug, added all the powder needed to make a gallon of milk and shook it for a while. Let it sit to allow any lingering lumps to get soggier. Shook it a little more and its the best blending job I've had. No powder sticking to the sides or lid. Definitely the way to go for me from now on!

Are You Rotating Your Freezer Storage?

2010-04-22T22:40:00.001-07:00

I have been digging deeper in my freezer and finding a few items that would reach out and grab me if they could . . you know kind of like those funny little items in the back of your fridge growing fuzz, feathers, and unmentionable stuff that polite people don't mention.

Fortunately, I have been pretty determined to keep everything labeled, including a date. I am finding that the date isn't always a good indicator of the condition of the food. In the previous post, I made Guacamole out of an avocado that I tossed in there last summer, just in its own skin. It was fine. Tonight I took out some turkey that frozen in November. There was no frost in the bag or any dry looking spots. It had a little bit of an "off" flavor to it. So out came the pot and in went the seasonings to simmer and make it tasty again.

Though freezing may not be the way to store most of our food, it is a wonderful invention which enables us to enjoy the fresh flavors of summer and autumn, so be sure to keep a good way of rotating it as well.

I had a huge chest type freezer for years and the bottom was impossible to rotate the foods in. I ended up using five gallon buckets to sort everything, preferably with handles for lifting out. After covering the bottom of the freezer, I created a second layer of buckets on top. The top ones were so much easier to lift out of the way than the long baskets that came with the freezer were.

Because of change of circumstances and my family shrinking (growing up and leaving home), watching other's freezers quitting on them (mine was even older than any of their's, YIKES!) I decided to down size and get an upright. I found it no easier to keep organized for rotation and boy howdy did it hurt when something fell out on your toes!

So I spent several weeks looking for just the right size baskets to organize and act as "drawers". It's working a lot better. Now I can pull out a manageable weight to go through and find what needs to be used.

GUACOMALE - - - - - - BUDGET STRETCHER PANTRY STYLE

2010-04-22T18:40:00.004-07:00

GUACAMOLE- - Pantry Substitutes in Red

1 - avocado, frozen (this one was about 6 " long) of course a fresh one is even better
2 - medium tomatoes (or canned diced tomatoes)
1/2 t. crushed red chili pepper (or red chili powder)
1 t. minced garlic (1/2 t. garlic powder)
2 T. minced onion or 1/4 c. chopped gr. onion
(1. t. onion powder)
3 T. lime juice (lemon juice is OK, just not as tasty)
1/2 t. salt
**2 oz. cream cheese, softened (If using an avocado that was in the freezer, it will have the translucent appearance like you see in the next picture. The cream cheese give is a creamier consistency and more normal appearance)

1. I took this picture and then almost immediately changed it into a better shaped spaghetti bowl. I mash the avocado and cream cheese with a fork, stirring and mashing until it is very small chunks. You can use a food processor if you would prefer a smoother consistency.

2. Dice the tomatoes. These are about 1/2" - 3/4" in size. Closer to 1/4" will disperse through the mixture better than this did. :-)

Now is the time to add your garlic, onion, lime juice, salt and crushed red
chili peppers.

Mix it really well. Before you add more salt, try it on a chip. Most have a lot of salt on them which will make a difference in the taste as you are munching!

Now put the kids to bed or send them home with their parents.
Find a good movie.
Put your feet up.
Enjoy!!

Little side note: When I was growing up Guacamole was smash an avocado and mix it with some Mt. Pass Taco Sauce, the whole 4 oz. can. Salsa hadn't been thought of, especially in the big old jars like it comes now. Mom loved it when I grew up and started to get serious with kitchen experimentation!

CHICKEN POT PIE - - - - FROM THE PANTRY

2010-04-20T19:35:00.015-07:00

This was Sunday dinner. It all came from my pantry, every bit of it, nothing from my freezer.

I took dehydrated peas, peppers, potato dices, carrots, and minced onions (forgot the celery). Left them soaking while we were at church so they would be ready to go when we got home at noon. The jar has chicken that I canned last summer when there were such good sales on meat for BBQ's. You can also use canned chicken from the store.

Seasonings: Salt, pepper, fresh rosemary (from my own garden so it counts as pantry, right?), thyme, chicken broth powder.

Can you tell that I hardly ever cook from recipes? To decide how much
of the rehydrated veggies I needed, I drained them, scooped them into the dish I was going to make the pot pie in. I ratio was able to decide what ratio of each veggie I wanted as I went. I left some room for the sauce later. then I dumped them into another dish until I was ready for them. I dried the dish out before I put the crust into it to prevent sogginess.

I made a crust for two pies, rolled out half and lined the dish with it.
I put it into the fridge to get good and cold while I fixed the filling. I went ahead and rolled out the other half so it would be ready to lay finish the pie when the filling was done. Cover it so that it won't get dried out.

I dump the chicken out into a wide spaghetti bowl. I went through it to remove all the bones and cartilage. Save the broth, it adds wonderful flavor! Yes, that is my kitchen trash at the bottom of the picture. I have the trash can in a cupboard where I work all the time. I find it a great step saver. I can drop anything that needs to be disposed of without moving, gotta love it.

***(When I am processing fresh veggies, this is where I do it so that I can just push the scraps off the counter into the trash. Don't worry, I am working on a chicken coop and compost box so I don't waste any of that good stuff!)

After deboning, dice up by cutting across the grain of the meat.

I like to brown any canned meat that I use. It firms up the texture and brings out the flavor. This time I used a little olive oil that I added minced garlic to the bottle for flavor. It has a very subtle flavor. This also when I added the minced onion, still dry, to brown and let the flavor mix with the meat.

Now is the time to mix in the cream soup. HERE is the post I did for cream soups. This actually directed you to Chef Tess's blog which is HERE . I made this in the pan with the chicken and let it simmer gently to let the flavors mix well, then added the veggies. Heat through, it will help it cook faster in the oven.

So how much soup do you need? I put enough in
to cover the veggies really well. then add a bunch
more. it tends to thicken more and somehow sauce
disappears. I have learned to add it until the veggies are absolutely swimming in that sauce. When you scoop it out, there will be plenty to drown the crust if you would like . . and we like.

Take the crust from the fridge, pour the filling into it.
No dawdling here thank you very much. Get that baby into the oven before the bottom crust has a chance to get soggy. This is where I had to add more sauce this time, the skillet wasn't big enough.

Cover the pie, pinch the edges good, trim the excess, poke some vent holes in the top crust and throw it in the oven!

This one took quite a while to bake since it was so deep. We all love lots
of the warm, gooey, drippy, yummy filling. I had to turn the oven down to finish cooking the inside without burning the crust.

It was a lovely sight to behold . . but did I get a chance to take a picture, NO! Hungry kids and grandkids dug into it before I could grab the camera. You'll just have to take my word for it.

I did a little measuring, after the fact. This was a 2-quart casserole dish. The recipe for a 2-crust pie was just about tight for the crust. It served 4 very hungry adults and two pretty hungry boys with some left-overs for my hubby to take for a meal at work.

My 9" X 13" rectangular pan is about 4 quarts to the top. I make about 3quarts worth of filling when I use that.

RED ENCHILADA SAUCE . . USING WHOLE DRIED CHILI PODS

2010-04-13T19:07:00.001-07:00

I've had these chilies around for awhile and finally decided to get them out of the way . . . . without wasting, of course.

Take the stem off and dump out the seeds if you don't want to preserve the "heat".

Put them in a pan, barely cover with water. Simmer with a lid on them until they seem to be softening and rehydrating, in a manner of speaking . . . nothing will soften those skins :-}

They will gradually lighten in color. When the "meat" (insides) of the chilies seem to be nice and soft, I let the liquid evaporate down a bit so that the resulting slurry will be more concentrated. Watch it carefully.

Dump the whole mixture into the blender or food processor. Blender will do a better job.
After breaking it down thoroughly, strain it into a bowl. You will need to keep mixing it in the strainer to get the good stuff on down through the strainer.
Be patient if you want to get most of the goodies. you may have to remove the skin and seeds once in awhile to keep it flowing!

I made the goodies into cubes and froze them so that I can just take out how many I need each time.

My freezer is getting pretty full of these little baggies full of goodness that make food storage special!

The Enchilada Sauce is following this post . . or at least it will in a few minutes! If I try to put too much into one post, I mess it up every time . . . sigh - - - -

RED ENCHILADA SAUCE . . . . the actual sauce, not just the red chili . . .

2010-04-13T16:13:00.004-07:00

Guess who forgot to take a picture of all the ingredients! I'll do that in a bit and add it. For now, here we go!

First get out your favorite chunk of lard from your fridge. Hmm, did you read that right? Yes, you did. You can store lard in the cold or just on the shelf, since we live in such hot country, I choose to keep it in the cold., in that little compartment in the door that is kind of worthless, now it isn't! My mom always used shortening and I also have been known to use bacon grease.
Back to business, melt about 1/4 cup in your 2-3 quart pan. Just melt it, don't need to make any smoke . . . that was for my benefit.

Next add 4 T. flour and mix it with a whisk, or whatever is handy. I never used a whisk until a college roomie how great they were. I usually keep mixing and cooking it until the mixture has started to brown a little. It adds a nice little toasty flavor.

Next it is time to add the 4 cups of liquid. It can be beef broth, water (kind of bland), or if you are planning to make it very mild, you can use some tomato juice (small can of tomato sauce + water) to give it more color. Mix and cook until it has made a lovely smooth creamy sauce. If you need, add more liquid.
Add your seasonings: red chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, pinch of each cumin and oregano, salt. You can also add browned ground beef at this point if you would like a quick easy way to make a large amount of enchiladas.

Start layering in your casserole or baking pan.

Coat the bottom of the pan with sauce.
Add a layer of tortillas or if you want to use them up, all those annoying little crumbs in the bottom of your corn chip bag. Sprinkle grated cheese (ground beef if you want and haven't added it to the sauce).
Add some more sauce and continue to layer ending with sauce and grated cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly. It may vary, depending on how deep they are in the pan.

CHILI STACKS . . . SOUTHWESTERN STYLE

2010-04-13T07:24:00.002-07:00

So here we go for making Chili Stacks.

Place about an ounce of chips in your bowl. My chili is nice and thick, helps the chips stay crisper. If you use the soupier style, your chips will get a little softer and chewier.

Pour about a cup of hot chili over the chips. Sprinkle on some
grated cheese. If the chili is leftover like mine, this is where
you nuke it to heat it up.

Here is your ooey gooey yumminess. At this point it's time to sprinkle all kinds of goodies over the top.
Salsa,diced tomatoes, chopped onion, sour cream, guacamole, lettuce, corn, cilantro. What ever floats your boat!

CHILI STACKS

2010-04-12T23:14:00.004-07:00

Earlier today, I mentioned Chili Stacks. I just figured everyone knew what they were. After doing a google search on the internet, I realized that what I was talking about isn't on any of the normal recipe sites. I have some yummy Chili that my daughter-in-law brought over for me. I will make Chili Stacks tomorrow and post the pictures.

Can you tell that I am a born and raised soutwesterner? I mean, come on, everyone has made chili stacks, right?

I also made red enchilada sauce from whole dried red chilies. Will post that tomorrow as well. It turned out so good. It's been quite awhile since I made the sauce this way.

It will probably be in the evening . . . going to have ankle biters a-a-a-a-ll day, through supper.

Let's Go Camping!!!

2010-04-12T16:20:00.004-07:00

I have a friend named Terri. she is such a goofy nut and we always have had so much fun. Well, this year she is the camp director for the girls at church. She and I have been talking about ideas for feeding the girls that week and I finally decided that this is a good idea for my little "hobby" here.

I will be posting some good ideas for when you want to go camping with your families.
Many of these ideas will also be handy for if and when you may be facing some of the disasters that we have been watching over the last few years. We never know when we might lose our power.
How about just saving bookoo bucks while on vacation? We have always traveled with our camp stove handy and had great hot meals at many rest areas or scenic view spots while traveling. Make sure you have a camera handy. We have gotten some pretty funny looks from other travelers when doing this. The looks range from, "Are you guys nuts?" to "Hey, why didn't we think of that?" and to "Why don't you do that?" from kids to their parents, while they are eating their dry PBJ's and mushy apples.

First ---- I would like to bring back on old post making omelets in baggies dropped in boiling water. This is a great way to give each person some control over what they are eating. Big deal to teenagers! I have moved the post to follow right after this one.

Next - - - - Let's try an idea that Terrie's assistant, Breck, gave her. How many of you love to make chile stacks. You know, where you put chips in a bowl, pour hot chile beans over them, sprinkle on some cheese, a few chopped green onions, maybe some diced tomatoes, some sour cream . . . . sound good?

Here is how to make STACKS IN A BAG!

I'm using some posse stew since I made some this morning, we are empty-nesters and I really don't need to have too many leftovers around the house! I do, unfortuantely love my own cooking, well most of the time, I do. The more leftovers, the more I munch and I do have to get that last 30 lbs. off or my little bitty doctor will give me stink eye again when I go back in.

To make the Stacks in a Bag:

Have each person choose their favorite chips. This is a great way to make others feel like they have some say in what they are eating, good PR, you might say.
Open the top, fold down a little if you can to make it stand open better.

Have 2-3 paper napkins in your hand to insulate when you put the hot chile into the bag!
Put the "chile" over the top of the chips.

Now you can sprinkle a little cheese & other goodies on the top
Stir it up good.
Chow down!

With all the wonderful salad mixes available now, you can have a wonderful meal in no time. Now I am such a skin flint, it can be hard for me to buy those salad mixes. But when traveling, I have realized that it is so much cheaper than going into a restaurant that I can make myself do it.

Talk about quick and easy clean up! I loved it today because I have several other posts I am trying to get on here.

Remember to check out the omelets in a baggie following this post. I am making several at once this afternoon so that I can give you a better idea how long it takes to cook when several are in a pot. Just in case it takes longer. (OK, then I don't have to make breakfast each morning the rest of the week. All I will have to do is warm one up add a little cereal or toast and have a nice hot breakfast in a manor of minutes . ;+D Gotta love it!

OMELETS IN A BAGGIE

2010-04-12T13:47:00.007-07:00

My sister-in-law emailed this to me and I thought, "Hot Diggity Dog! May I say, easy!!" I tried it this morning and it was a really yummy, fluffy omelet! Wish I had known this one when I was cooking for lots of picky girls up at summer camp . . . way easy way to satisfy everyone.

Have everyone write their name on a quart-size Ziploc freezer bag with permanent marker. ( I have since discovered that you can use a sandwich bag and it works just fine!)
Crack 2 eggs (large or extra-large) into the bag (not more than 2) shake to combine them.
Put out a variety of ingredients such as: cheeses, ham, onion, green pepper, tomato, hash browns, salsa, etc.
Each guest adds prepared ingredients of choice to their bag and shake.. Make sure to get the air out of the bag and zip it up.
Place the bags into rolling, boiling water for exactly 13 minutes [we did 15 minutes]. You can usually cook 6-8 omelets in a large pot. For more, make another pot of boiling water. (I put mine in before the water was actually boiling. Lifted it out a couple of times to squish ingredients around. Mine was done in about five minutes.)
Open the bags and the omelet will roll out easily. Be prepared for everyone to be amazed. (I dumped mine out and rinsed the bag immediately. It looks very clean, but will keepin the fridge door for future use . . . I know cheapskate)

Straight from the pot. My omelet. Everything is better with salsa!!