A little more ranting and raving..sorry!

Are you kidding me?? I just have to complain to someone! Take 45 minutes of your life, watch the segment from November 19th (there are six segments, you can just scroll down and watch each of the six), and give me your thoughts. What is happening to our country?? Sorry to rant and rave again, but I can't take our government any longer!

www.glennbeckclips.com

(This site is awesome for people like me who are too cheap to pay for cable. You can watch many of the FOX News shows on this station the night they broadcast. It's awesome!)

*The more I hear about what is happening to our country, the more I can see why having food storage is SO extremely important!

Christmas Tradition

How many of you get overwhelmed by the daunting task of doing neighborhood Christmas gifts? I remember a few years back needing to put together over 30 gifts for neighbors. Keeping track of who brought what, and what I brought people, became a time consuming part of the holiday season. Four years ago a few of my friends got together and we decided to put the money we used on neighborhood gifts towards a good cause. We wanted to come up with a way to cut down on the time and money spent on these neighborhood gifts. Although they are a wonderful way to show your neighbors you care, it can create a headache and unnecessary expense for many families (especially in today's economy!) So..if your neighborhood needs a new tradition, give our 'Christmas Neighborhood Drive' a try. All it takes is someone to make copies of the flier, and a few people to hand the fliers out (we use the scouts or young girls in the neighborhood to do the passing out--a great service project)!

What does our neighborhood do? We have put together several different drives, but the most popular drive has been the food drive. Most everyone has food in their pantries and food storage (another great reason to have food storage!), so it is easy to put together bags of food and donate them to the neighborhood food drive (or cash). We put together a small flier that explains where to drop off the food and encourages the neighbors to put the flier in their window so people know they donated to the food drive in lieu of doing neighborhood gifts. (If you would like a copy of the flier to hand out in your neighborhood, email me and I can send it to you Shandra@dealstomeals.com)

Save money, do something for someone else, and make your holiday season a little less stressful!

**Another added bonus to this service project--LESS treats brought to the door, meaning a few LESS pounds gained each holiday season :)

A taste of Pandemic and Panic

This past month has taught me many lessons. First, I cannot imagine how awful a nationwide pandemic would be, and second, 'if ye are prepared, ye shall not fear'.

ALL six of us in our family were hit by the horrible H1N1 Virus. Thankfully it is not a 'pandemic' yet (actually...a reader corrected me, it was declared a pandemic on June 11, 2009), but when you have this sickness you feel like you have the 'plague'. Kids can't go to school, you don't want to leave the house and contaminate others, and you feel plain miserable to do anything but stay inside and...moan! Can I tell you how wonderful it was to have food storage for those three weeks we were sick. The LAST thing I wanted to do was go grocery shopping (I still have only been once in the last month and a half--I sure hope my love for shopping comes back!). Food storage is great for many things, but one of them is for situations like being sick, or in the case of a pandemic, that you don't need to leave your house unless you need to. It was so nice to have food we could just quickly grab and throw together for dinner and food for the other meals of the day. It sure made the three weeks more bearable.

I also re-learned the importance of having a well stocked car kit. During our sickness we were on 'vacation' to St. George for eight days--not that you could call it a vacation being sick in bed. Of course the day we chose to drive home from St. George it was an absolute blizzard. Instead of taking 4 hours to get home, it took us over 7 hours! We were stuck at the top of the mountain (around Filmore I think) and we were in wall to wall traffic. There were cars sliding off the side of the road, people trying to dig out their cars, diesel trucks that slid off the road and other semi's that had slid and covered the entire road so no one could drive past. There was an hour where we did not move an inch. We wondered just how long we would be stuck in this traffic and began thinking of the 'what-if's' of this situation. It made me realize how important the car kit in the back of our car would have been if things continued to get worse. Did we have a way to stay warm? If we had to dig our car out of the snow, would we have the equipment to do it (I personally didn't--I was wearing flip flops--brr!)? What would we eat if we were stranded for a long period of time? Did we have water?

So many things to think about, especially here in Utah, now that snow season is upon us. There are many important items to have in a car kit, but some of the basics are the following:

*A backpack (buy them for cheap at the D.I) Something easy to carry if you needed to take it with you.
*Food & WATER (quick snacks--granola bars, fruit leather, high protein items if possible. They have high calorie bars that are great for emergencies sold at Emergency Essentials)
*Light Source-flashlight and batteries, flares
*Warm clothing--old coats, jackets, rain gear, gloves, hat. The survival blankets are also a good idea to have in your car kits to stay warm.
*Shoes or boots (if you are going to or from work and wear dress shoes, this is very important) Put your old sneakers or boots in your trunk.

There are MANY more items you could store in a car kit, but these basics would go along way if you were stranded some where.

Here is a link to a site that has an even more detailed list of items to have in your car kits: http://www.edmunds.com/ownership/howto/articles/43798/article.html

A friend of my sister's just started a food blog and when I saw this recipe, I KNEW I had to make it. Yes, I love carbs, it is one of my downfalls! I remember as a child my dad buying store bought raisin bread and out of each loaf we would only get ONE small slice. All four of us kids would drool over my dad's loaf of raisin bread and dream of our next slice. He used to toast his slice, put a generous amount of butter on the bread, and then sprinkle a little cinnamon and sugar on top---yum!! This was truly a treat to us as children (we must not of had many sweets back then!). I have tried making raisin bread before, but haven't been able to find a recipe that I loved. This recipe off of her blog, was VERY good! I only made a couple of changes. First, I put more like a 1/4 c. of powdered milk (why not, I have TONS of it!) and then I also added a 1/3 c. of vital wheat gluten (my bread secret weapon!). The vital wheat gluten gave the bread that soft and pliable texture which I love, and will help the bread stay soft and fresh for a couple of days (that is..if it lasts that long). Here is the great recipe...I might add, it is an awesome food storage recipe at that!

Raisin Bread
* 4 C hot water
* 4 t salt
* 6 T butter
* 3/4 C sugar
* 2 T dry milk (I used 1/4 c)
* 4 t cinnamon
* 2 C raisins (tip for hard raisins that have been stored too long--put them in a bowl with a little water and microwave them for a minute or so. They plump up just like they were brand new and have a softer texture in the bread)
* 10-12 C flour (I found it was about 10 1/2 c.)--you could use all wheat flour or even 1/2 white and 1/2 wheat. The cinnamon gives the bread a brown color anyway, so why not add some wheat to make it healthier
* 2 1/2 T yeast
(1/3 c. vital wheat gluten--optional) Add during the first step with the water, butter, sugar, etc.

1. Put the water, salt, butter, sugar, dry milk, cinnamon and 4 C of the flour in the mixer, mix for 1 minute.

2. Add the yeast.
3. Keep adding the flour one cup at a time until the dough scrapes the side of your mixer clean.

4. Mix for 8 minutes.

5. Add the raisins and mix just until incorporated.

6. Let the dough sit for 5 minutes.

7. Divide the dough into 4 pieces and place each piece in a loaf pan sprayed with cooking spray. Pick each piece up, holding it in one hand, smack it repeatedly to get the air bubbles out. Shape it into a ball and place it back in the pan. Repeat with each section of dough.

8. Put the pans into a warm 170 degree oven and let rise for about 20 minutes, or until the dough has risen 1 inch above the rim of the pan.

9. Turn the oven up to 350 and bake for 25 minutes. (The 25 minutes includes the time it takes for the oven to increase in temperature)

Rustic Baguette Bread...the BEST yet!

Have you ever opened a cook book and had a desire to try something new? Well, since I do enjoy baking I have a tendency to try a few new recipes in high hopes that I will love them even more than my standard ones. Well, I must admit that we have found a winner. If you are familiar with the recipe book, America's Test Kitchen then you will know that they have great recipes. One thing about them is they walk you step by step through an entire recipe and they give the reasons why they do each step. It is very helpful when trying a new recipe. However the recipes do require lots of reading, but I must admit that the success of this new "baguette" bread recipe is WELL WORTH the reading!

Baguettes

(aka a great Rustic French Bread Recipe)

Recipe adapted from America’s Test Kitchen Family Baking Book

Sponge:

½ c. bread flour or all purpose flour

½ c. warm water

½ tsp. instant or rapid-rise yeast

Dough:

3-3 ½ c. bread flour or all purpose flour

¾ tsp. instant or rapid-rise yeast

1 ½ c. warm water

1 ½ tsp. salt

Glaze:

1 large egg beaten with 2 Tablespoons water

1. For the Sponge: Stir all the ingredients together in a medium bowl until combined. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature until the sponge has risen and fallen. At least 6 hours or up to 24 hours.


2. For the Dough: Combine 3 cups of the flour and the yeast in a standing mixer fitted with the dough hook. With the mixer on low speed, add the water and mix until the dough comes together, about 2 minutes. Stop the mixer; cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 20 minutes.


3. Remove the plastic wrap, add the sponge and salt, and knead the dough on medium-low speed until it is smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. If after 4 minutes more flour is needed, add the remaining ½ cup flour, 2 tablespoons at a time, until the dough clears the sides of the bowl, but sticks to the bottom.


4. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and knead by hand to form a smooth round ball. Place the dough in a large, lightly oiled bowl and cover tightly with greased plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.


5. Turn the dough in the bowl with a dough scraper or large rubber spatula. Cover, let rise for 30 more minutes, and then repeat the turning process. Cover and let rise until the dough has doubled in size, about 30 minutes longer. (**If using all purpose flour repeat this process 6 times total. If using bread flour repeat a total of 2 times.)


6. Place parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and divide it into 2 equal pieces. Shape each piece of dough into a baguette and lay it seam side down on the prepared baking sheet, spaced about 5 inches apart. Mist the baguettes with vegetable oil spray, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place until nearly doubled in size and the dough barely springs back when poked with knuckle, 1 to 1 ½ hours.


7. Meanwhile, adjust an oven rack to the lower middle position, place a baking stone on the rack, and heat the oven to 500 degrees. Let the baking stone heat for at least 30 minutes.
   
8. For the Glaze and to Bake: Score the top of the breads with a sharp knife. Brush the breads with the egg mixture, then spray lightly with water. Carefully slide the breads and parchment onto the hot baking stone. Immediately reduce the oven temperature to 425 degrees and bake until the crust is deep golden brown. About 25 minutes, rotating the loaves halfway through baking.

VARIATION- Slow-Rise Baguettes

While it is convenient to be able to make a baguette in one day, if you have time, a long, slow overnight rising produces a more impressive loaf, richer in color with dramatic blistering and complex nutty flavors. Make sure that the plastic wrap covers the loaves completely but is loose enough to allow the baguettes to rise upward.

In step 6, do not let the baguettes rise, but refrigerate them overnight or up to 12 hours. Let the baguettes sit at room temperature, covered, for 30 to 60 minutes while heating the baking stone, then bake as directed.

MY FIRST ATTEMPT: I did the slow rise method one day and then the quick rise method the next to test the recipe to see the differences. The slow rise really was SLOW...I allowed the sponge to sit for 24 hours, then it sat in the fridge formed like the baguette for another 24 hours. This is what I found...The slow rise method did EXACTLY like the recipe said it would, the outer crust was VERY crusty and chewy. I also did use bread flour with the slow rise method, so it made the bread extra chewy on the inside and crusty on the outside. It was perfect for dipping in olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

MY SECOND ATTEMPT: When I tried the quick rise method I allowed the sponge to rest for about 6 hours. Then I followed the directions as instructed. This time I used regular all-purpose flour (since that is what the majority of my flour is from my food storage) and allowed it to rise and then turn down a few extra times. In the end the crust was still crunchy and the center was soft and chewy. The quick rise had more texture as regular french bread would, small air pockets, very bread like. The slow rise was FULL of tons of air pockets, flavor, taking on a more distinct rustic bread texture.

So in the end both were wonderful and VERY tasty. Depending on what the purpose and my ability to remember to get started TWO days in advance before I would even need to make this bread, would determine which method I would choose. I give my approval on both!

This was a quick picture of personal size hoagie buns I tried. I used them for French Dip Sandwiches, which I personally think were the BEST I have ever had! I didn't have the chance to run to the store and purchase hoagie buns so I thought...I should try the fast version and make small individual size hoagie buns with this same recipe...YES it worked so well!!!