The 12 days of Christmas Food Storage

I know a lot of you already know what you're going to get everyone and/or might be to late to prepare the gift(s) I'm suggesting, but I thought this was a fun idea that my mom got last year in her ward.

The 12 days of Christmas Food Storage

On the first day of Christmas,
Because your are so sweet,
I hope this can of HONEY
Makes your day complete.

On the second day of Christmas,
Because you are so neat,
Santa's elves have brought you
Two large bags of WHEAT.

On the third day of Christmas,
If you're baking the kids a treat,
You'll need this bag of SUGAR
To make it oh-so-sweet.

Popcorn, chips, and french fries,
Would quickly have to halt,
For they would lose their savor,
Unless they had some SALT.

On the fifth day of Christmas,
According to Hoyle,
Everything you cook will stick,
If your pantry's out of OIL.

On the sixth day of Christmas,
This variety of MILK,
Will make your cooking easier,
With sauces smooth as silk.

Cooking, washing, brushing teeth,
Would certainly be awful,
If fresh pure WATER wasn't there.
Make sure you have a shelf full.

They have improved the quality,
Of T.P. through the ages--
But gosh, in time of crisis
This beats the Yellow Pages.

On the ninth day of Christmas,
Warm things will soothe the tummy,
This VEGETABLE SOUP mix,
Will sure taste quite yummy.

On the tenth day of Christmas,
Make your cooking turn out nice
A little shake, a little pinch
Of your favorite can of SPICE.

On the eleventh day of Christmas,
Getting anxious, I am sure,
With your year's supply of IVORY
You're 99-44/100% Pure.

Now Christmastime is finally here,
Hope you've enjoyed the treats.
Your year's supply's in better shape
Make sure you don't deplete.

Have a Merry Christmas
And a Happy New Year!
I hope this plate of GOODIES
Brings you lots of joy and cheer!

Frozen Fruit Order

Hello Sisters,

It's that time of year for Frozen Fruit Orders.

We order from sellers who sell fruit in bulk. I know not everyone is able to buy and use a 30lb box of blueberries, but if you're interested in buying a portion of a box of fruit, please let me know how much of what fruit you'd like to order and I'll coordinate your order with everyone else's to make it work.



The price per pound is really for your information only. Orders can only be made in 5 lb increments. If you'd like me to email you a list that's easier to read, let me know. I'd be happy to do so.

We're not doing a sign up sheet this year. Everything is going to be done by email or over the phone. You can send me your order by email or call me. My number in the stake directory and the ward website is correct.

After you tell me how much of what fruit you'd like, I'll let you know how much you officially owe. I need the money absolutely to be turned in to me by Saturday, October 9. That's just two weeks away! I cannot place any orders for which payment has not been received by October 9. I suggest dropping payments off at my home or mailing it. Please, let me know what you're planning to do. Again, my contact info and address is correct in the stake directory and the ward website.

I don't know when the fruit order will get here, but I should know about a week in advance. When the fruit comes, everyone who ordered needs to come and measure out their order and take it home within minutes of when the fruit arrives so it doesn't thaw out (sorry, the freezer space just isn't there). Again, I'll let you know when and where that will be, but we do need everyone's help.

If you don't think you'll be able to help, I think the best thing to do is to order with a friend that can be there and is happy to help you. If you can't find anyone, let me know, and I'll help you.

If you have any questions, please, let me know. I'd be happy to help.

Emergency Essentials

Emergency Essentials sells everything you can think of when it comes to food storage and emergency preparedness. It's the same company we bought the freeze dried strawberries from a couple months ago.

Every month they have different sells going on.

So...check them out.

They have everything from loaded 72 hr kits to dehydrated spaghetti with meat sauce and chicken ala king to wheat grinders.

Their website is http://beprepared.com/.

Happy Perusing!

Oatmeal Recipes

My mother's stake food storage specialist in Ohio sends out a newsletter ever so often. This time, my mother forwarded me the newsletter. The stake specialist had a segment dedicated to Oatmeal recipes. Here are the recipes. I recommend reading through them. I think they're pretty interesting, especially the last two.

Oatmeal Raisin Muffins

• 1 egg


• 3/4 cup milk


• 1 cup raisins


• 1/2 cup vegetable oil


• 1 cup whole wheat or white flour


• 1/3 cup sugar


• 3 tsp baking powder


• 1/2 tsp salt


• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg


• 1/4 tsp cinnamon


• 1 cup rolled oats.

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare muffin tin. Beat egg, stir in milk, raisins, and oil. Stir in remaining ingredients all at once just until flour is moistened (batter will be lumpy). Fill
muffin cups about 3/4 full. Bake in preheated oven until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Remove from pan immediately.

Overnight Oatmeal

In a microwaveable bowl mix 1 cup oatmeal, 1 1/2 cups milk, 1/2 cup
apple juice, apple pieces (optional), raisins, nuts, etc. Let sit overnight in the refrigerator.
The next morning warm the oatmeal in the microwave.

Crockpot Oatmeal

• 2 cup milk
  
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
  
• 1 T. Butter, melted


• 1/4 tsp salt


• 1/2 tsp cinnamon


• 1 cup oats
  
• 1 cup finely chopped apple


• 1/2 cup raisins or dates


• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, or almonds.

Spray inside crockpot. Put ingredients inside and mix well. Cover
& cook on low overnight (8-9hrs). Makes four cups.

The only recipe I tried was the last one, the crockpot one. Except, I did it without the nuts. I loved the taste that the chopped apples gave the oatmeal, but I wasn't a fan of the mushy texture.

I know...I know...Oatmeal's supposed to be mushy, but the overnight cooking made the oatmeal much more mushy than it's usual mushiness...which lead me to believe...the nuts shouldn't be optional in this recipe...at least the almonds anyway. The almonds would have given the oatmeal that crunch that my tongue, teeth, taste puds, stomach...heck, my whole being wished the dish had had.

I was also thinking maybe I'll try only putting half of the chopped apples and raisins the night before and add the rest in the morning before serving. What do you think?

Another thing in the recipe directions that I didn't do that would have saved me from intensive crockpot scrubbing...I didn't use Pam (or my Kroger spray equivalent). I will NOT miss that step again.

Anyway...

Do you have any food storage oatmeal recipes you wish to share? I'd love to hear them.

Canning Dates for the Rest of the Year

Below are the Canning Dates at the Church Regional Cannery for our stake and a reminder about the cannery guidelines.

For more information about Canning at the Cannery, see the How do you get your food storage? post and Policy Change at the Cannery Post.

Canning Dates:

Sep 11, 9 am - 2 pm
Oct 9, 9 am - 2 pm
Nov 6, 9 am - 2 pm
Dec 4, 9 am - 2 pm

Basic Rules:

1. All orders must be received one month before the canning date. Orders should be on the form provided on providentliving.org and e-mailed to the Peacocks at rpeacock8123@yahoo.com
2. Bulk supplies may not be brought in from outside sources for canning in the cannery.
3. Those operating machinery must be at least 16 yrs old.
4. Those receiving canned food must attend the canning session or be babysitting for someone who is canning. You can't can the food for others who are not participating.
5. Children can not be accommodated. There is no place for them to play.
6. Everyone participates on canning everyone else's orders and helps cleanup. Therefore, a person is there for the full canning session.
7. Payment is preferred by check or it must be exact change. Prices may change slightly from what is on providentliving.org and the prices at the cannery due to price changes.
8. Bulk supply orders may be picked up at any time during the session. Note: As soon as the orders are filled and cleanup is done we leave and the cannery is closed. This has been as early as 10:30am.

Egg Substitution in Baking

When I saw a recipe for an egg substitute in then the Church's 1978 Essentials of Home Production and Storage, I've been wanting to try it, and I finally got the stuff and tried it.

The recipe calls for...

1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
3 tablespoons cold water
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon boiling water

The recipe didn't give much more instruction than saying to make the egg substitute before you start making cookies, cake, etc.

I used the egg substitution for making cookies. While making the egg substitute, I thought that maybe eggs over thirty years ago must have been a lot bigger because the recipe asks for a lot of water. By the time I needed the egg substitute, the mixture had a slight egg white texture, but it was still watery. I needed to add more flour.

When all was said and done, the cookies were still soft and chewy (how we like'em), but the taste was definitely off. Not bad. The cookie still tasted good, but it was definitely different.

I quickly looked up reasons why, and I bet you can already guess why the taste would be off.

The yoke.

The yoke adds a definite flavor to what your baking, and most egg substitutes, including the unflavored gelatin one above, are imitating the effect egg whites have in baking, not egg yokes.

In researching more online, websites people have recommended using I/2 mashed banana or 1/4 cup apple sauce as a substitute for 1 egg in baking sweet goods. Obviously, these substitutions affect the flavor of what you're baking, but being able to store apple sauce, bananas (when dehydrated or freeze dried), and unflavored gelatin in one's pantry is a plus in the case of emergency or whatever.

Another random, but applicable comment I read online is that "you do not need eggs for most cakes." Think about it. Not using eggs at all in making cakes. The problem with that is I don't think I have enough guts to try making a cake without eggs. What if the cake I'm making doesn't fall under the "most cakes" category? I can't afford at the moment to be unpleasantly surprised when the cake comes out.

Here's the websites I looked at if you're interested.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_can_be_used_as_a_substitute_for_eggs_when_making_a_cake

http://vegetarian.about.com/od/vegetarianvegan101/f/eggsubstitute.htm

http://www.thecookinginn.com/eggsub.html

http://www.wikihow.com/Replace-Eggs-in-Your-Cooking

If you learn just one thing from reading these websites, it's that there are a lot of egg substitutes out there.

So...Which ones have you done, tried and/or swear by?

Rice-A-Roni

I posted about this recipe awhile ago, but hadn't tried it yet. I have now tried it. Although it's not the most delicious recipe that ever was, I do like it and have learned a lot from it.

Here's the recipe

Rice-A-Roni

1 c long grain rice
1 c broken pieces of vermicelli pasta
2 Tbs. butter or oil
1 Tbs. chicken bouillon granules
1 t. dried parsley, crumbled
1/8 t. white pepper
4 1/2 c. hot water

Brown the vermicelli and rice in a saucepan with the butter or oil. Add all other ingredients and cook for 20 minutes. The rice will be light and fluffy. Serves 4.

I've a confession to make. I haven't yet followed the recipe to this day, and I've made it about half a dozen times. In fact, I made it today.

First off, I half the recipe for my family of two adults, a preschooler and a toddler.

Now, this is how I've been making it...

Having lately discovered the greatness of freezers in storing food, I pulled out some frozen red bell pepper and onions (all pre-chopped of course). I sauteed them with a clove of garlic for about 5 minutes. Then I added the inch-long broken up spaghetti (what I substitute for vermicelli) and rice to the saucepan to brown. After that, I added about 2 1/4 cups of water (remember I'm halving the recipe), a small can of chicken, frozen parsley, a cut up chicken bouillon cube (they're surprisingly easy to cut), and a couple shakes of pepper.

It tasted good. We ate it with mixed veggies. If I was a little more proactive, we would have eaten it with grapes as well.

Food storage items used
rice
pasta
canned chicken
onions (if dried or frozen)
peppers (if dried or frozen)
various herbs or spices you have in your pantry, freezer or garden

Anyway...I hope this recipe can give you ideas on how you can use your food storage items.