Beans...the options are limitless!

The other day I was making White Bean Chicken Chili and decided to use some of the dried white beans from my storage (SO much less expensive than canned beans!). I put 3 lbs. of beans in my large roaster oven and had them simmer in the water for 4-5 hours. By the end of the day the beans were perfectly soft and ready for my chili. Needless to say, out of 3 lbs. of beans, I had LOTS of left overs and wondered what to do with them. I have read several blogs and books where they say you can substitute white beans pureed for fat/butter in recipes. I decided to give this method a try. I was over all quite pleased with the results! Here are a few of my cooking adventures with pureed white beans.




My first attempt was pretty terrible. I don't know if it was the recipe I used or the fact I used 100% whole wheat and 100% beans-with no butter or fat. The cookies turned out dry and crumbly and NOT worth posting about. When I perfect a chocolate chip cookie recipe with white beans I will post about it.


I then decided to try white bean puree in some muffins I was making for an after school snack for the kids. These actually turned out pretty good! I think if you used all white flour you wouldn't even be able to tell the difference of the butter or beans. However, I tend to go over board with the wheat flour in hopes of being healthy, and usually do too much. Try this recipe with half wheat flour and half white flour and I think it will be perfect! I have tried all bean puree and no butter and they just turn out too crumbly and dry. Having some fat in the recipe helps the item stay moist and soft. Sorry...these are 'healthier' not 100% healthy :)
*I liked the lemon butter/sugar topping of these muffins, but I think a traditional streusel would actually taste even better.



Blueberry Muffins
2 c. wheat flour
2 c. white flour
1 cup sugar
6 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
zest of two lemons
2 egg
2 cup water
6 T. dry powdered milk
1/2 c. butter, softened
1/2 c. white bean puree
2 cup frozen blueberries

Topping (this makes extra - you can try cutting it down if you want):
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 Tb lemon juice
lemon zest
1/2 cup sugar

Beat eggs, bean puree, butter, water, powdered milk, and sugar. Stir in blueberries. Add dry ingredients and stir gently to combine. Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Combine butter and lemon juice. While the muffins are still warm, dip the tops in the butter and lemon juice, then dip in sugar. Makes 24 muffins.


This afternoon I decided to try another recipe with white beans (I had lots to get rid of!) and this one is my favorite so far. This Oatmeal Raisin cookie recipe was one I adapted from Mrs. Fields Cookbook into a healthier version. Again, you need some of the fat, so use 1/2 beans and 1/2 butter and they will be delicious! This recipe makes a TON! You can freeze the extra dough for later or give some away to your neighbors.

Healthy Oatmeal Cookies (Okay...healthier)
2 c. brown sugar
2 c. white sugar
1 c. butter
1 c. pureed white beans
Beat top ingredients and then add:
4 eggs
2 t. vanilla
Add dry ingredients and beat together:
1/4 c. powdered dry milk
2 c. white flour
2-3 c. wheat flour
2 t. baking powder
5 c. oatmeal (quick or regular)
2 t. soda
1 t. salt
2 c. raisins or chocolate chips
3 c. nuts (optional)

Bake at 350 for 10 minutes on greased cookie sheet. Don’t over bake.

**GREAT TIP: Make extra white beans and puree them into separate portions for later. Label your bags with how much beans you put in the bag and keep them in the freezer until you need them. When you are baking, pull out a bag, thaw them in the microwave, and add them to your recipe as desired. It works great!

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Great Question!

"I have a question for you. Since you are, of course, preparing for whatever may come.....I am wondering if you have made other preparations other than food storage? I was wondering what kind of house you live in and what you do when there is no electricity for heating, cooking, etc. Do you plant a garden, raise your own animals.....i.e., chickens, cows, etc. for eggs, milk, meat, etc.? I just find it interesting to know to what extremes people are going to. Also, wondering if you've looked into alternative medicines or storing those?"

~Sandra

Great questions! No..I wish I could raise my own chickens (maybe??) and do more of that type of preparation. However, we just live in the out skirts of Salt Lake and have neighbors in our backyard—not a lot of space for anything other than a garden. I try and plant as much as I can in my garden and bottle, dry, freeze, or can the extras of the season. We also have three fruit trees that have proved to be a blessing—free apples, pears, and peaches in the summer. It doesn’t get better than that!

As far as fuel storage, we do have a generator, gasoline, camping stoves, propane heaters, butane stoves, etc. We keep a good stock of fuel that we would need for cooking and heating in an emergency.

I do store basic medicines: Tylenol, Asprin, Vitamins, Cough Syrup, Cold/Flu medicine, etc. Any medicine my family uses on a regular basis (during sick season that is), I try to store a couple extras for an emergency—or if we were unable to have access to them. For those who use prescription medicine it is important to store as many extras as you can in your storage. I for example, have Asthma, so I always keep my prescriptions filled and max out my allowed supply, so I have extras on hand. I know this is not possible with all medicines, but if it is possible, it is a good thing to do.


Other items I try to keep well stocked are hygiene items: toilet paper, paper towels, wipes, shampoo/conditioner, bar soap, liquid soap, laundry soap, dish detergent and soap, toothpaste, extra toothbrushes, cotton balls/q-tips, hand sanitizer, bleach, Clorox wipes (for cleaning and sanitizing), and other basic cleaning supplies.

First Aid items are also an important part of your emergency preparedness supplies (72 hour kits, car kits, etc.). Having a wide variety and different sizes of bandaids, wraps, etc. are important for storage. There are several items that are important to have in your First Aid kit. You can find lists online of important items to store. I will post more about first aid later in the month. This is part of my goal with some of our tax return money--beef up our 72 hour kits and first aid supplies. Watching the people in Haiti helps you realize some of the items you may be low on.

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Feta Fun!!

Do you love feta cheese as much as I do? It is probably one of my absolute favorite cheeses. I don't know if it is the salty flavor or the smooth texture I love more--but, boy..it is delightful! I had ground beef thawed in my fridge today and I was dreaming of a feta filled hamburger. I have never had this before, but I imagined it being yummy! So..I did a little research and created my own recipe that was FANTASTIC! I even had a second small helping tonight because it was SO good (late night snacks are okay for pregnant people, right??).

Before I get to the recipe, here is a tip to save money on your bread budget. I didn't want to go to the store for $2.50 whole wheat hamburger buns, so I found an easy way around it. I was making wheat bread this morning and decided to make a few hamburger buns while I was at it. I used the same dough and just formed them into large roll shapes. They cooked up perfectly and made for the perfect INEXPENSIVE hamburger bun--fabulous!

Okay, here is my made up recipe for these fantastic Feta Burgers (play around with the amounts of items, I didn't measure, so these are just estimates):


Stuffed Feta Burgers
2 lbs. lean ground beef (ground turkey would also work great)
Montreal Steak Seasoning (good amount!)
2-3 T. Worcestershire sauce
1 t. garlic powder
2 t. dried parsley
1 egg
1/4 c. breadcrumbs
Large chunk of feta cheese (I prefer the Greek Feta that is sold at Costco in a large square block--it is softer and has better flavor. Feta freezes well if you won't use up the whole package).
1 package hamburger buns (or homemade) Brush each side with a little olive oil or butter and broil for 30 seconds to a minute until golden brown.

Mix all together (minus the feta) and form half of the mixture into 7 patties. Put a large chunk of feta cheese on top of each half of the patties. Put the remaining beef mixture flattened on top of each patty, covering the feta cheese. Grill burgers until cooked through on the grill (dust off the snow on your outdoor grill, it will be worth the effort to have the yummy charcoal flavor!)

Serve burgers on a whole wheat bun with lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumber sauce (below):

Cucumber Sauce (this is what makes these burgers)
1/4-1/3 c. mayonnaise (not low fat, you don't want a sweet flavor--sorry!)
1/4 c. sour cream
2 t. dried dill weed
1/2 t. garlic salt
Dash of lemon juice
1 small cucumber, peeled and shredded
Ground pepper
1/2 t. parsley
Salt to taste (it should be salty and tangy with the lemon juice)

Mix together and chill until ready to serve with burgers.

Enjoy!

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Haiti Relief Effort

I, like many of you, can hardly bear to hear any more news or see pictures of the devastation in Haiti. I don't know that I have ever seen such poverty and destruction as I have in this country. It truly is devastating and our thoughts and prayers go out to those suffering. I am sure all of us are trying to find ways and think of things we can do to help the people in Haiti. My children have done jobs around the home and other service projects to be able to donate the little money they have to Haiti. It is neat to see how touched they are and their sincere desire to help. My encouragement to all of us today is to find some way, no matter how small, to give of our time or money (or even something as simple as prayers) to those who are in need. Small donations of any amount I am sure will be able to provide food and water for these people.

My husband and I have decided that ALL of this months membership fees from NEW members to Deals to Meals will go directly to the Haiti Relief Effort http://www.ldsphilanthropies.org/ How can you be part of this effort?

If you have signed up to Deals to Meals in the month of January, or if you sign up this month, email us and let us know you would like your months membership fee to go to Haiti. We will then send payment to the Haiti relief efforts at the end of the month from all of this months new subscription fees. If you are already a member of Deals to Meals, we encourage you to find a way that you can help those in Haiti as well. If we all work together to help those around us who have less than we do, we can make a difference. Situations like this make you appreciate so much more all of the blessings we have been given.

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Delicious version of a family favorite...Taco Soup!

There are nearly 100 ways you can make taco soup, but this version is definitely my favorite! I like the ground beef taco soup okay, but this chicken chili is not only healthier, but I believe tastes even better. The other aspect of this soup that makes it different than other recipes is the vegetables in this soup. During the summer I throw any vegetable I can find into this soup--zucchini from the garden, yellow squash, fresh tomatoes, peppers, onions, etc. Garden vegetables make this soup even better, but ones from the store also do the trick. My favorite vegetables to add are bell peppers (any color works great), zucchini (and yellow squash if you can find it), onions, and green chiles. I also play around with this recipe and add some more seasoning, double to beans (I like more beans in my soup--plus, it makes the recipe stretch further), and as many canned/diced tomatoes as you would like. This recipe is very flexible and can be adapted to any families needs (vegetarian also works great). Top this soup with fat free sour cream, juice of a lime, a little cheese, and you have a healthy and delicious meal. (For those familiar with Weight Watchers, this recipe is VERY low in fat and high in fiber-only 3-4 points for an entire bowl!) It is the New Year right...we have to worry about things like that-ugh!

Summer Chicken Chili
*This recipes works GREAT as a freezer meal. Double or triple the recipe and put the extra in Ziploc freezer bags for later
1 medium zucchini, chopped
1 medium white onion
1 bell pepper, chopped fine (any color)
2 cans pinto beans, drained
2 cans black beans, drained
2 cans kidney beans, drained
2 cans corn, drained
16 oz. thick and chunky mild salsa
3 chicken breasts (uncooked)
1/2 -2 T. chili powder
14 oz. cans chicken broth (or 2 c. water and 2 T. chicken base/bouillon)
1 can diced tomatoes
8 oz. tomato sauce
1 garlic, pressed
1t. ground cumin
2 T. lime juice (fresh or from a bottle)

Sauté onion, zucchini, pepper, chili powder and garlic until onions are tender. Add other seasonings and lime juice. Add chicken breasts (cut in half or quarters) and the remaining ingredients. Simmer for 30 minutes after coming to a boil, or until chicken is tender and begins to fall apart. Take out large pieces of chicken and shred. Return shredded chicken to soup. Simmer until ready to serve. Top with chips, cheese, sour cream, extra lime juice, cilantro, etc.

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Delightful Homemade Custard Cups and Boston Cream Pie

I am a pudding lover! I love homemade pudding, Jell-o pudding, and everything in between. The smooth texture, refreshing coolness, and the fact it is a 'somewhat' low fat treat, makes pudding one of my favorite treats! The other day we were having family over and I wanted a different dessert for a change. I decided to make a pudding parfait with all sorts of different puddings and toppings. It was delicious!

Yes, you could make instant pudding, but these recipes were SUPER easy and SO much better than a boxed pudding. Not only is this pudding delicious, but it uses basic food storage ingredients. These puddings are a great way to use up the dry powdered milk in your storage. (ALL of the ingredients can be stored long term except for the egg. Powdered eggs will not work, you can just leave the eggs out and simmer for an extra minute or so until thick. These recipes thicken up really quickly, so you don't really even need the egg yolk :)
*I adapted the recipes from the cookbook What's for Dinner?


Here are the three puddings I tried and LOVED:

French Vanilla Pudding
2/3 c. sugar
1/4 t. salt
2 T. flour
2 T. cornstarch
1 can evaporated milk
1 1/3 c. water
4 T. powdered milk
1 egg yolk
1 t. vanilla

Combine dry ingredients in a saucepan. Gradually stir in evaporated milk and water. Over medium heat, bring to boil, stirring constantly. Let boil one minute. Beat egg yolk in a small bowl and stir in a small amount of hot mixture. Pour into pan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Let cool, stirring often. Serve warm or chilled.

Butterscotch Pudding
1/2 c. butter
4 T. cornstarch
1 c. brown sugar
1 can evaporated milk
1 c. water
3 T. powdered milk
2 egg yolks
1/2 t. vanilla

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir together , dry milk, and sugar. Stir in water and evaporated milk. Whisk until smooth. Cook and stir over medium heat until thick and bubbly. Beat egg yolks slightly and add a little hot mixture stirring until blended. Add to saucepan and bring to a boil again. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Serve warm or chilled.

Dark Chocolate Pudding
1 egg
2/3 c. cocoa powder
3 T. cornstarch
1 can evaporated milk
1 1/3 c. warm water
4 T. powdered milk
3/4 c. sugar
1/4 t. salt
1 t. vanilla

In a small bowl, beat egg and set aside. Combine cocoa, powdered milk, and cornstarch in a separate bowl. Whisk 1 c. evaporated milk into cocoa mixture until completely smooth. In a large saucepan, combine remaining milk, sugar, water, and salt. Mix well. Bring to a boil over medium high heat, whisking constantly. REmove pan from heat. Whisk cocoa mixture into hot milk mixture. Bring to a boil over medium heat; boil for 2 minutes, whisking constantly. Remove pan from heat. Gradually whisk 1 c. of hot cocoa mixture into the egg. Pour mixture back into pan. Cook over low heat for 2 minutes, whisking constantly. Do not boil. Remove pan from heat. Add vanilla; blend well. Pour mousse into serving dishes. Cover and chill for 1 hour.

*In all of the above recipes 1 c. of milk was substituted for 1 c. of warm water and 3 T. dry powdered milk. This is a GREAT trick to using up your powdered milk. With the sugar and vanilla in the pudding you can't tell you used powdered milk. It makes for inexpensive AND delicious pudding!

A couple days later we still had leftover pudding (I doubled each of the recipes), so I decided to make a Boston Cream Pie. This is a SIMPLE cake recipe (I don't know why it is called a 'pie'??) All you do is make a regular Butter Yellow Cake mix, making as directed PLUS one small package of instant vanilla pudding. Put the cake into two round pans. Take out the cakes from the pans and cut the cakes in half (giving you four thin layers of cake). Put a layer of vanilla pudding in between each layer (you can also add a chocolate layer of pudding if you would like). Top the cake with a thick chocolate glaze (recipe below). Put the cake into the fridge until ready to serve. YUM!

Chocolate Glaze
2 T. butter
3 T. cocoa
2 T. hot water
1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
1 t. vanilla

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa and hot water and stir until smooth. Add powdered sugar and vanilla and stir until smooth.

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Weevil Trouble?

I receive several emails each year regarding weevil, so I thought I would share a couple of tips I have found over the years to help protect your food from weevil. Now, before I share a few of my tips, I do have to say I am NOT an expert on weevil. Although I ate my fair share of it growing up (ugh!), I have NEVER seen a weevil in my storage the past 11 years (thank my lucky stars!). However, I talk to people all of the time who are dealing with weevil trouble, so I thought I would share their tips and tricks with you :) If you have had trouble with weevil and found better solutions, or have tips to share, feel free to leave a comment for others to benefit.

Here are a few tips:

*To kill weevil, freeze your flour, sugar, wheat, cornmeal, etc. for 72 hours or longer. You can then sift the weevil out or just pick out the few dead weevils you see remaining. They are perfectly fine to eat (sounds gross, but you really wouldn’t taste them), and once you kill them through freezing, they should be pretty much dissolved or gone. If you do not have freezer space you can just try to sift them out with a fine cloth or colander. They are so small, this can be tricky, but may be worth a try.

*To prevent weevil from appearing in your food later as you store it, you can freeze all of your items BEFORE you put it in your long term storage for the same 72 hours. This should prevent weevil from hatching or spreading as you store the items long term.

*Put dried bay leaves (a few leaves) in the bottom and top of the container you are storing your grains in. This seems to be the most popular method. Many people put bay leaves in their pantry, food storage room, and closets. Costco sells Bay Leaves in a large container for fairly inexpensive.

*Dry Ice Method: Put a pound of dry ice (per 50lbs. of wheat) in the bottom of a plastic bucket. Leave the lid on loosly until the dry ice vaperizes. Then seal the bucket. Be careful not to seal the bucket lid too soon or it could crack or explode :)

*Microwave your wheat (dried) for 5 minutes to kill the weevil and their eggs.

*Place your wheat in a glass of water. Those wheat berries that float to the top are most likely infested with weevil eggs or bugs. You can remove them and use the other berries as normal.

*What do you do if you have seen weevil in your storage room? Take all foodstuffs out of your cabinets or off of your shelves. Wash the cabinets down thoroughly in case there are eggs remaining on the surface. Then wash/wipe down all items you are putting back into the cabinet with a warm/hot rag. You will be after any visible living organism; but, you are really after eggs which may be on the outside of these food bags as a result of infestations in stores and warehouses. Once you have sufficiently cleaned the surface and the food bags (if necessary) you can return the food to your shelves.

*Find the infected food source to try and locate the problem. Many times weevil or insects are coming from one main food source and spreading. This is common in a long term food storage room. If one item is infected, most likely others will be as well. When you find and get rid of the main problem/source, it should help your weevil troubles subside.

*Empty out your food items into clean buckets or keep them in plastic containers to help keep bugs out of your food. Sealed buckets are best, but any container will help protect agains these critters.

*TIP: Buy your wheat, rice, and sugar from Costco because if you ever find weevil in their food, they will return the product for a refund or exchange. It is like a food insurance policy :)

*This may seem crazy to many of you, but I actually pray for my food storage. Not on a daily, or even monthly basis, but I thank God for the blessing of having food to eat and ask Him to watch over our food and protect it. The scripture that says 'to God ALL things are spiritual', I figure my food storage can be as well :) This isn't to say I will never see weevil, but so far (11 years later), my prayers have been answered :)

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