EVERYDAY FOOD STORAGE » Crystal

How to make your bread LOOK like store bought bread

Crystal — Tue, 22 May 2012 14:19:24 +0000

Okay, ever since my EZ Wheat bread recipe hit the blog (you know my famous whole wheat bread recipe that TASTES more like store bought bread) I’ve received the question “How do I make my bread look more like store bought bread?” I can see why people may ask this because if your bread looks like mine, it’s not uniform at all. It rises so much over the pan that I get a nice balloon effect on the top, which can make it kind of hard to make sandwiches out of and fit in sandwich baggies. One of the greatest things about store bought bread is it’s nice uniform square shape…and I’m going to show you the secret for getting your bread into those long beautiful uniform shapes!

THE SECRET FOR MAKING YOUR BREAD LOOK LIKE STORE BOUGHT BREAD

It’s actually very simple! I discovered this loaf pan a couple of months ago and it is honestly my new best friend in the kitchen. It’s amazing and one of the coolest things I’ve cooked with in a long time! One of my favorite things about it is that it’s entirely versatile. It has feet on it for making angel food cake in it (just imagine a perfect loaf that you can cut into slices-very gourmet). You can also make regular cakes, pound cakes, AND BREAD! Imagine a nice slice of chocolate cake on a plate with drizzled chocolate sauce, raspberries, and ice cream. Can you see how this just upped the game of all your desserts? Not to mention that it really makes bread look like store bought bread. In fact, I texted my friend (who I gave one to for her birthday) a picture of the bread after I experimented with it and she couldn’t figure out why I would send her a picture of store bought bread!

TIPS FOR USING THE WILTON ANGEL FOOD LOAF PAN

If you’re making an angel food cake in it-one regular recipe will fit in the pan.
If you’re making WHEAT bread in it-you will double your recipe (get my favorite HERE)
If you’re making WHITE bread in it-you will one and a half your recipe
If you’re making a cake or pound cake in it-one regular recipe will fit in the pan.
Bake times should be about the same for anything you do-but with anything new, you’ll want to keep your eye on it.
When rolling out your bread, I do it the same as I would for a regular loaf pan (catch the trick on my bread video) but I just make it longer-the length of the pan.

WHERE CAN I GET THIS PAN?

Unfortunately, this isn’t something you can just pick up at Wal-Mart. It’s a little more gourmet of an item than that. I found mine at a kitchen store in an Outlet Mall, but you can also very easily find it on AMAZON. Oh yeah, and if you decide to make loaves this large…you’re also going to want to invest in larger bread bags-found HERE.

HUGE SUN OVEN SALE!

Don’t forget about the HUGE Global Sun Oven sale going on right now! If you don’t have one-this is the time to get it along with all of the accessories for FREE! Get more information HERE.

How to make gardening fun for kids!

Crystal — Fri, 18 May 2012 11:41:19 +0000

Okay, so time for my most frequently asked question for Belinda. How can I make gardening fun for my kids? If you’ve asked yourself this question-you’re not alone! Gardening is great for kids-it teaches them work, responsibility, how to care for living things, and how to eat healthier. However, it can be hard for kids to have fun while they are learning all of that-which is pretty much all they care about, right? Well Belinda with Home Gardens to Go is back to share some great ideas on how to get kids involved and enjoying gardening….oh yeah and we have a fun little giveaway AND SALE as well. I have to make it fun for you too, right?

MAKING GARDENING FUN FOR KIDS

Number one: Give them a little space to call their own! Belinda has great 2×4 boxes perfect for little kids (the smaller size helps them be able to reach everything in the garden!) To see Belinda’s kid boxes, click HERE (and don’t forget to use the code ST9GN17261G6F to get 20% off your kid boxes, this weekend only!). I got one for each of my kids (see those cute kids in the picture above…yeah those are mine…and they LOVE playing in their garden-especially now that their plants are popping up!)

GARDENING WITH KIDS SALE-THIS WEEKEND ONLY!

USE CODE “ST9GN17261G6F” at check out to receive the 20% off!

MORE GARDENING IDEAS FOR KIDS

Mrs. Green Beans: Turn your garden into a person! Your kids will love watching Mrs. Green Beans take form with living hair and a climbing skirt!

Making your own Wind Chime: Help your kids decorate your garden space with a wind chime made from things right in your kitchen!

Plant Pals: Make your own Chia Pets for your kids to admire in the kitchen window!

Make Homemade Seed Envelopes to Save this year’s seeds for NEXT YEAR!

10 MORE ways to make Gardening Fun! Tips on how to make weeding a game and how your kids can earn a little extra money this summer (hint: it doesn’t involve you making any lemonade either!)

GARDENING WITH KIDS GIVEAWAY

Gardening with kids just got a lot easier! These great (and super cute) accessories for kids are bound to get kids to love gardening. I even have them for my own kids and it makes their garden so bright, cheery, and kid friendly! Leave a comment to enter one of four (2 boy kits and 2 girl kits) gardening kits for kids.

GET PRO HELP FOR YOUR GARDEN!

Need more help with your garden? (Like me!) Belinda would love to help! Check out all she has to offer to help you set up your garden correctly. I personally had her come set up all of my boxes since I a) wanted to make sure it was done correctly and b) my husband works a lot of nights and Saturdays and didn’t have the time to dedicate to building and setting up boxes.

Local (Utah) Square Foot Garden Packages
Shipped Square Foot Garden Packages
Kid Boxes
Square Foot Gardening Accessories (Mel’s Mix Soil, Drip Irrigation Systems, Grids, etc.)

She is also offering all of you a FREE copy of Mel’s book The All NEW Square Foot Gardening with a garden package purchase-use the code “Q44I63MPGWH9Q” at check out.

DID YOU MISS A DAY OF THE SQUARE FOOT GARDENING CLASS?

No problem! Click one of the links below to see what you’ve missed!

Day One: Basics of Square Foot Gardening
Day Two: Secrets for Planning a Successful Garden
Day Three: The Boxes! Learn how to make them, buy them, and some secret benefits!
Day Four: Mixing Your Soil: Mel’s Mix!
Day Five: Composting-learn everything you need to know about efficient and effective composting
Day Six: Watering
Day Seven: Seeds with bonus videos on how to start your seeds indoors!
Day Eight: Planting!
Harvesting Spinach with out the Grit!
Growing with the vertical trellis
See what Belinda did in my own yard!

HUGE Shelf Reliance Shelf Sale!

Crystal — Wed, 16 May 2012 13:38:56 +0000

Harvest 72 #10 Shelf on Sale $229.99 (That’s CHEAP!)
To see the discount you MUST add it to the cart. For some reason the sale price only shows up when it is in the cart so don’t let the higher price fool you, why you add it to the cart you automatically get the sale price.

To get the home party price you must be logged in as a home party customer. As you go to check out you will be asked to log in or to register as a home party customer. Just register as a customer and you will get the sale price. Don’t worry you can still review your order to make sure you get the sale price. If you choose to check out as a “guest” you will not get the sale price.

Sale ends May 20th or when supplies run out. (I’m sure they will run out. be sure to purchase early)
Remember that sale items sometimes take longer to ship then normal.

To purchase a Harvest 72 #10 click HERE. Want to see the shelves in action? Check out my food storage room-couldn’t live with out them!

Tips Making (Delicious!) Bread Machine Bread for Sandwiches

Crystal — Mon, 14 May 2012 09:00:00 +0000

Everyone knows that a bread machine can be THE TICKET to have bread in a hurry, with no mess, and while you are off having fun. However, if you ate bread machine bread growing up, you probably know that it can be dry, hard to cut with a thick crust, and a mess to make. Well it can be that way or it can be the most DELICIOUS bread you’ve ever eaten and take no time at all to do. Making bread is definitely more nutritious and MUCH, MUCH cheaper then buying the equivalent bread at a super market. If you don’t have a bread machine, check your local second hand store. I know mine had at least 4 today when I went. You can always do a Google search for instructions on a particular machine.

SAVE TIME: Make Bread Mixes! This is the same idea behind making a lot of sandwiches at once. If you make your own bread mixes and store them in the fridge, then it is one mess and takes about 1 minute to make a loaf of bread. Nice, right? (To make a bread mix, combine all dry ingredients from your favorite recipe (except for yeast) in a ziploc bag and store in the refrigerator)

This is a whole loaf.

As you can see it is thinly sliced.

In fact it looks so good (and tastes so great with butter & honey) you could serve it at a brunch!

It also makes the most delicious sandwiches!

My tips for making DELICIOUS homemade bread in your bread machine.

1) Use white wheat (it’s taste is more subtle) and always use the wheat setting (whole wheat needs to rise longer than bleached white flour).

2) Add potato flakes to your bread machine recipe to add the soft texture of a store bought bread. I add 1/2 C. to mine. This is extra great since the cannery just started carrying potato flakes! (This trick has been used since the olden days when women would use the water used from cooking potatoes in their bread to make it soft. )

3) Allow bread to cool in a closed Ziploc bag (or towel) to make the crust soft. Somehow, and I’m not sure of the science behind it, the moisture goes back into the bread and makes the crust VERY soft. My bread doesn’t get moldie or dry out as quickly as before. A softer crust makes the bread much easier to cut. CAUTION: I was told me that before store bought bread a crunchy crust was the way to tell the bread was fresh…so I guess if you like the fresh crunch to your bread continue to air cool.

4) Experiment with Gluten. I add 1 T. of gluten to my bread. Gluten makes the bubbles in your bread strong so that your bread doesn’t sink from the bubbles popping too early.

5) High Altitude dwellers should cut down the amount of yeast called for in the recipe because bread rises faster in high altitude areas and since the bread machine is a timed process it doesn’t know to bake when the dough has doubled in size. For reference, I halfed my yeast from what it called for in my recipe.

5) Make the process easy by filling Ziploc bags with all dry ingredients minus the yeast and placing in your fridge. This way you always have fresh homemade bread ready and waiting to begin for you with no mess!

Just as a side note, I’ve tried using other people’s very delicious whole wheat bread machine recipes in my bread maker and they never turn out (because of the high altitude problem) so don’t be discouraged if this happens to you! Just try to make your bread machine’s recipe to how you like it.

Here are a few of my favorite bread machines!

The Cuisinart Programmable Bread Maker-It does EVERYTHING including quick breads…you know like banana bread, pumpkin bread. VERY COOL!

Zojirushi Breach Machine: This is the Cadillac of bread machines! It actually makes the loaf like a store bought loaf of bread and the baking is unparalleled! My mom has a Zojirushi and when I made my EZ Wheat bread in it, it tasted exactly the same as if I had made it myself the old fashioned way. VERY IMPRESSIVE!

HUGE SUN OVEN SALE!

Don’t forget about the HUGE Global Sun Oven sale going on right now! If you don’t have one-this is the time to get it along with all of the accessories for FREE! Get more information HERE.

Ask Belinda: What did you do in Crystal’s Yard?

Crystal — Fri, 11 May 2012 13:02:09 +0000

Okay, so I’ve had a lot of people wondering what I had Belinda do in my own yard. Remember, I was super excited when I saw Belinda’s ad for Home Gardens to Go in a local mailer because I had just been thinking to myself “I wish some Square Foot Gardening expert would just come set up my garden for me…” See I had just moved into an older home that had been bank owned (READ: YARD FULL OF WEEDS!). In my previous house I had tried Square Foot Gardening many times but had always failed (due to some common first timer mistakes-which is why I was even more excited when Belinda said she would help me film videos going over the technique of square foot gardening! If you missed any scroll to the bottom of this post to get caught up) and my husband, who works two jobs, wasn’t too excited about spending his spare time building me MORE boxes to try again. Hence why I was wishing the Square Foot Gardening Fairy would come to my house and set up my new garden area which was currently all weeds.

This is the easiest Square Foot Gardening has ever been! I instantly had boxes, grids, a watering system, perfectly mixed soil AND installation! It was all done in about an hour one Saturday morning and I was on my way. And after filming all of those videos with Belinda I feel so confident in my gardening-in fact, for the first time EVER my garden is doing really well! Now, let me make one thing very clear-Belinda is not paying me to feature her, she didn’t contact me and offer to re-do my garden area for blog time. I contacted her and paid her and I don’t make a penny if you buy something from her. She was kind enough to let me film her doing videos exclusively for my blog. She is well worth the money-especially if you’re tired of failed attempts in the garden and wish the Square Foot Gardening Fairy would come and visit your house-like me!

GET PRO HELP FOR YOUR GARDEN!

Local (Utah) Square Foot Garden Packages
Shipped Square Foot Garden Packages
Square Foot Gardening Accessories (Mel’s Mix Soil, Drip Irrigation Systems, Grids, etc.)

She is also offering all of you a FREE copy of Mel’s book The All NEW Square Foot Gardening with a garden package purchase-use the code “Q44I63MPGWH9Q” at check out.

DID YOU MISS A DAY OF THE SQUARE FOOT GARDENING CLASS?

No problem! Click one of the links below to see what you’ve missed!

2 for 1-Breadsticks OR Pizza in under 30 minutes from ONE easy recipe: Food Storage Recipes

Crystal — Wed, 09 May 2012 19:13:00 +0000

This is my ABSOLUTE favorite recipe and ever since I got it from my sister-in-law we haven’t bought pizza (contrary to what my husband says on the video . The other great thing about making this as pizza is that you can make the crust in the morning and then top it with your toppings in the evening and have dinner ready in under 10 minutes! I love meals you can make most of earlier in the day when life isn’t so busy. It is so easy, makes NO mess (okay well, just a little mess), and is DELICIOUS. Kids love it (especially when you let them pick the toppings and add them to the pizza)! Everytime I make these breadsticks for company it is a HUGE hit and they always ask for the recipe, so who better to share it with than all of you!!

30 Minute Breadsticks OR No-Fail Deep Dish Pizza Crust

(If it is too thick for your family, you can either half the recipe or put one full recipe onto two cookie sheets)

2 1/2 C. Medium Hot Water
5 tsp. SAF Instant Yeast*
2 Tbsp. Sugar
3 Tbsp. Oil
1 tsp. Salt
6 C. Flour (you can do half all-purpose and half white wheat or 100% whole wheat)
1 to 2 Cubes of Butter

Directions:
1. Pour medium hot water in mixing bowl. Sprinkle yeast on top and allow to dissolve.
2. Add sugar, salt, and oil. Gradually add approximately 6 cups of flour.
3. Melt 1-2 cubes butter on cookie sheet in oven as it is heating to 400 degrees and melt in oven. 4. Place dough on cookie sheet and press to fill pan, make sure butter gets on top of the dough.
5. Allow to double in size (About 10-15 minutes)
6. Cook for 10 to 12 minutes or until desired browning is accomplished.
7. Cut into strips or top with favorite pizza toppings.

* When using regular yeast change amount to 2 Tbsp.

For more tips and tricks for using food storage in your everyday recipes, please visit www.everydayfoodstorage.NET

45 Minute Whole Wheat Cinnamon Rolls

Crystal — Mon, 07 May 2012 16:01:44 +0000

So I showed you how you can create your own three month food storage by freezing any dough or roll (like Rhode’s rolls) which makes making any bread super fast. However, there are times when you run out of those and you’d still like…say…cinnamon rolls! These cinnamon rolls are done and baked in 45 minutes or less! In fact, when I make cinnamon rolls-these are what I make now. I double the recipe, bake a few and freeze the rest for later use. It’s perfect! You’ll also notice that this recipe calls for chopped nuts rolled up in the cinnamon rolls-I never thought of adding them but really chopped pecans pushes this recipe over the top and makes it entirely impressive and different. Try it, you’ll like it!

45 Minute Cinnamon Rolls Recipe

45 Minute Whole Wheat Cinnamon Rolls

Recipe type: Breakfast

Prep time: 30 mins

Cook time: 15 mins

Total time: 45 mins

Serves: 4-6

Make this food storage treat in 45 minutes flat! Your family will love you!

Ingredients

1/3 C. sugar
3 T. yeast
1/2 C. oil
1 1/4 C. warm water (110 F)
2 eggs (2 T. dry egg powder and NO water)
1 t. salt
5 1/2 C. wheat flour
1/4 C. melted butter
1 1/2 T. cinnamon
1/2 C. sugar
1/2 C. chopped nuts (optional, but really a fantastic addition to cinnamon rolls)
3/4 C. raisins (I soak mine first)

Instructions

Mix sugar, yeast, oil, and water and let stand 15 minutes.
Add eggs, salt and flour and knead for 5 minutes.
Roll to rectangle 1/4″ thick
Brush dough with melted butter. Sprinkle sugar, cinnamon, nuts, and raisins over dough.
Carefully roll up and cut 1″ thick slices with string or knife.
Place in greased 9×13 pan and let rest 10-15 minutes.
Bake at 425 for 10-15 minutes or golden brown.

Notes

Glaze:
2 C. powdered sugar
1/4 C. hot water
1 t. butter

Mix and top warm cinnamon rolls

WordPress Recipe Plugin and Microformatting by EasyRecipe

MAKING THE CINNAMON ROLLS WITH PICTURES

HUGE SUN OVEN SALE!

Don’t forget about the HUGE Global Sun Oven sale going on right now! If you don’t have one-this is the time to get it along with all of the accessories for FREE! Get more information HERE.

Ask Belinda! How to protect your garden from pests, critters, heat and chill!

Crystal — Fri, 04 May 2012 12:36:57 +0000

You may be surprised how easy it actually can be to protect your garden. Amelia (and plenty of others) have emailed me wanting Belinda to show how to protect their garden from all sorts of different things: pets, critters, bugs, heat and chill. Well good for you, Belinda is back teaching us how to easily protect our gardens this year! If you have a question you’d like Belinda to answer, email me at everydayfoodstorage (at) gmail (dot) com.

SQUARE FOOT GARDENING 101: Protecting your garden from critters, pests, pets, chill and heat!

HAVE QUESTIONS?: Belinda will be around all summer answering your gardening questions. Email questions to everydayfoodstorage (at) gmail (dot) com

DID YOU MISS A DAY OF THE SQUARE FOOT GARDENING CLASS?

No problem! Click one of the links below to see what you’ve missed!

Day Six: Watering

Day Seven: Seeds with bonus videos on how to start your seeds indoors!

Day Eight: Planting!

Harvesting Spinach with out the Grit!

Growing with the vertical trellis

GET PRO HELP FOR YOUR GARDEN!

Local (Utah) Square Foot Garden Packages
Shipped Square Foot Garden Packages
Square Foot Gardening Accessories (Mel’s Mix Soil, Drip Irrigation Systems, Grids, etc.)
Critter Cage (featured in the video)

She is also offering all of you a FREE copy of Mel’s book The All NEW Square Foot Gardening with a garden package purchase-use the code “Q44I63MPGWH9Q” at check out.

The Latest from Studio 5 with a working link!: Making your own Rhodes Rolls!

Crystal — Fri, 04 May 2012 02:00:50 +0000

Yes, for the next few weeks, I’m going to share tips on how to make bread in a hurry and today is the first of my tips. Making your own freezer dough (think your very own homemade Rhode’s Rolls) is awesome! You can make dinner rolls, cinnamon rolls, orange rolls, baked doughnuts in a cinch plus since you’re making it you can add in as much food storage as you’d like! I’m telling you this is one of the biggest tips for being a super mom! Now anytime I’m going to a potluck or dinner with friends, I always bring rolls because let’s face it, no one-not no one- doesn’t love warm rolls fresh from the oven. And there is nothing more than I love than pulling this all off with a spotless kitchen and little effort on my part! I shared it all on Studio 5 today so here is the link where you can get caught up on it all too-plus, my most requested recipe (Orange rolls) and a new recipe for Whole wheat herbed rolls. Both I brought to different functions this weekend and both were gobbled up before I could hardly blink!

DIRECTIONS FOR TURNING YOUR FAVORITE ROLL RECIPE INTO RHODE’S ROLLS!

Method:

1. Make dough according to recipe. Allow for one rise (optional) and shape dough into rolls. 2. Place rolls on lightly floured baking sheet and freeze for 2 hours. 3. Remove rolls and store in gallon sized freezer bag. Baking Freezer Rolls: 1. Remove rolls and allow to thaw and rise on counter for 90 minutes to 2 hours. (You can also remove rolls the night before and place in fridge to thaw, then allow to rise in warm area for about 30 minutes) 2. Bake according to directions.

Orange Rolls

1 package active dry yeast (2 1/4 t. yeast)
1/4 cup warm water
1 cup milk, warmed not quite to boiling (3 T. non instant milk powder OR 1/3 c. instant
milk powder + 1 C. water-I added my water to the 1/4 c. water mentioned above for
dissolving my east)
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup shortening (or 1/2 C. bean puree)
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, beaten (2 T. dry egg powder and NO WATER)
1/4 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons grated orange peel
5 1/2 cups flour, sifted (I used 3/4 c. whole WHITE wheat flour and the rest bread flour)
Plain Glaze: 2 cups powdered sugar, 1/4 cup hot water, 1 teaspoon butter
Orange Glaze: 2 cups powdered sugar, 1/4 c. orange juice, 1 teaspoon butter, and 1 t.
grated orange peel
Method:

1. Sprinkle yeast in the warm water and set aside.
2. In another bowl, blend milk, sugar, shortening, and salt. Cool until lukewarm, then add eggs, water with yeast, orange juice, and orange peel.
3. Stir in flour a few cups at a time to make a soft dough. Let stand for 10 minutes.
4. Knead dough 5-10 minutes on a lightly floured surface until dough is smooth and elastic. Place it in a lightly greased bowl, turning once to grease surface. Cover bowl with a clean towel and put it in a warm place. Let dough rise for 2 hours, or until double in size. Punch dough down and let stand for 10 minutes.
5. On a lightly floured surface, divide dough into 3 sections. Roll dough into circle and then cut into 16 pieces (like a pizza). Starting at thickest part of wedge roll up (will look like a crescent roll).
6. Cover bunnies and let rise in a warm place for 45-60 minutes, until nearly double in size.
Bake at 375ºF (190ºC) for 12-15 minutes.
7. For the glaze, stir powdered sugar, water, and butter together. Frost rolls with the glaze while they are still warm.

Whole Wheat Herbed Rolls

Ingredients:

2 packages (1/4 ounce each) active dry yeast
2-3/4 cups warm water (110° to 115°), divided
1/3 cup vegetable oil (or 1/2 C. bean puree)
1/4 cup honey or molasses
1 tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons garlic
2 teaspoons dried thyme
2 teaspoons dried basil
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 egg, beaten (1 T. dry egg powder with NO water)4 cups whole wheat flour
4 to 4-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Method:

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water. Add the oil, honey, salt, seasonings, egg, whole wheat flour and remaining water. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough all-purpose flour to form a soft dough.
2. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, 6-8 minutes (or use a kitchen mixer). Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
3. Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide into three portions. Divide each into 16 pieces. Shape each into rolls. Cover and let rise until doubled, 20-25 minutes.
4. Bake at 375° for 12-15 minutes or until tops are golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks. Yield: 4 dozen.

Click HERE to view the recipes and my segment on Studio 5 today and learn how to make your own Rhode’s like rolls!

HUGE SUN OVEN SALE!

Don’t forget about the HUGE Global Sun Oven sale going on right now! If you don’t have one-this is the time to get it along with all of the accessories for FREE! Get more information HERE.

Studio 5 working on the link

Crystal — Thu, 03 May 2012 03:48:32 +0000

Okay, I have been inundated with emails informing me that the Studio 5 page with the video and recipes is not working. So sorry! Studio 5 is working on this-chalk it up to their new website design. They think it will be fixed tomorrow. In the meantime. know that I have refrigerator biscuit dough in my fridge-ready to experiment with. Yeah…it’s going to be awesome. Thanks for your patience!