© 2012, Crystal. All rights reserved.

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

© 2012, Crystal. All rights reserved.

© 2012, Crystal. All rights reserved.

FEBRUARY IS “LET THEM EAT (FOOD STORAGE) CAKE!” MONTH!

Alright, February is in high swing with wonderful food storage filled cakes!  They don’t use cake mixes, but are just as easy to make.  The recipes are packed with flavor (just look at the Chocolate Molten Lava Cake if you’re wondering) as well as fiber and protein-which of course, means the calories have been C-U-T!  Who doesn’t love a piece of cake that tastes great, has half the calories, and leaves you feeling satisfied and full!  So what is my next awesome recipe?  Well I’ll tell you…

WHOLE WHEAT BANANA DREAM CAKE

Oh, man-this cake was so good, I was honestly surprised because I can remember not really liking banana cake as a child and I didn’t know if I’d like this one.  It was in one word-incredible!  It’s entirely chalk full of fiber with whole wheat, oats, nuts, and beans but you’d never know it by the wonderful taste and texture.

Food Storage Whole Wheat Banana Dream Cake Recipe

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Recipe type: Dessert

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 60 mins

Total time: 1 hour 15 mins

This whole wheat Banana Dream Cake is incredible and no one would ever guess it is chalk full of food storage!

Ingredients

• 1/2 C. Butter (or beans)
• 1 C. brown sugar
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 2 eggs (2 T. dry egg powder + 1/4 C. water)
• 1 1/4 C. flour (I used whole wheat)
• 3/4 t. baking soda
• 1/2 t. baking powder
• 1/2 t. salt
• 3/4 C. oatmeal
• 1/3 C. butter milk (1 T. dry non-instant milk powder or 2 T. dry instant milk powder + 1/3 C. water + 1 t. vinegar or lemon juice)
• 1 C. mashed bananas (about 3)
• whole pecans

Instructions

1. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs. Beat well. Add dry ingredients alternately with buttermilk mix well. Blend oats bananas and nuts and add to batter. Pour batter into greased 9×13 pan. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes.

Notes

This is a thin snack cake. If you want to be thick like a regular cake, either double the recipe or put this sized recipe in a 8×8 pan.

Fresh Banana Frosting
1/4 C. butter
1/2 t. vanilla
1 T. lemon juice
2-3 small bananas
3/4 – 1 pkg (1 lb.) powdered sugar

Mix creamed butter with mashed bananas. Add enough sugar to make a nice spreading consistency. Then add vanilla and spread on cake.

{I didn’t use this frosting when I made it. I just topped it with some whipped cream and it was delicious!}

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BEANS?

If you’re confused why I’m saying to use beans in place of butter get my instructions for successfully using beans for butter and/or oil.

Help Spread the Word!

I love it when you share my tips and recipes for food storage!  Do me a quick favor, if you like what you see please share it on facebook, pinterest, or blog about it!  And make sure you link either the word “food storage” or “Everyday Food Storage” back to me.  Thanks-it makes all the hard work worth it!

© 2012, Crystal. All rights reserved.

Do you ever sort of cringe thinking of all that flour you’ll have to slop on your counters when it’s time to do gingerbread cookies with your kids? I know I do, I still don’t have a great way of cleaning flour off of my counters (btw, if you have a good trick, leave a comment below). So, lucky for me I have a wonderful mother who gave me the recipe she would do with my brothers when they were little-can you imagine trying to do gingerbread cookies+flour+FOUR boys under the age of FIVE? Yeah…you know she had to find a better way. Now I’m sharing it with you, all food storage style, so you can have a much easier Christmas and a better time making cookies with your kids this year! (This recipe is very similar to the Cookie Clay Dough, I’ve posted about before)

KID FRIENDLY GINGERBREAD COOKIES

1 Cup Butter
2/3 Cup Brown Sugar, packed
2/3 Cup Molasses
In a small saucepan, combine the above 3 ingredients. Cook over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Let stand 10 minutes.

1 Egg, large and beaten (1 T. dry egg powder + 2 T. water)
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
Beat together in a large mixing bowl and add the butter mixture. Mix together.

4 Cups Flour (2 Cups wheat and 2 Cups white)
1 1/2 tsp. ginger
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
Combine all of the above dry ingredients. Gradually add to wet mixture above and mix well.
Cover and chill for about two hours.

Form or mold into balls, ropes, or animals, etc.
This recipe can also be rolled out and cut out with cookie cutters. Usually no flour is needed on the counter or rolling pin. A spatula is all that is needed for the transfer to the cookie sheet. However, I do dip the cookie cutters in flour for easy removal from the cutters. This dough works especially well for cookie cutters that imprint a design as the design holds up well in baking.

Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes or until set. Cool for 5 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool.

To make 8 Gingerbread Teddy Bears:
Divide dough into 8 equal pieces. Have each of 8 children make from their piece of dough; one 2 inch ball for body, one one inch ball for head, four 1/2 inch balls for hands and feet, two 3/8 inch balls for ears. Place the 2 inch ball on a foil-lined baking sheets for the bear body; flatten to 1/2 inch thickness. Position the 1 inch balls for the head; flatten to 1/2 inch thickness. Attach four 1/2 inch balls to the bear for arms and legs. Attach two 3/8 inch balls for bear ears. Add chocolate chips for eyes, noses and buttons.

OR Shape dough into eight balls, 2 inches each; eight balls, 1 inch each; 32 balls 1/2 inch each; and 16 3/8 in each. Place the 2 inch balls on three foil-lined baking sheets for bodies of 8 bears; flatten to 1/2 inch thickness. Position the 1 inch balls for heads; flatten to 1/2 inch thickness. Attach four 1/2 inch balls to each bear for arms and legs. Attach two 3/8 inch balls for ears. Add chocolate chips for eyes, noses and buttons.

Bake at 350 for 12 minutes or until set.
Cool for 10 minutes before carefully removing to wire racks to cool completely.
Frost bows on bear necks with red frosting/piping tubes.

© 2011, Crystal. All rights reserved.

I’ve been dieing to see if beating powdered egg whites from my food storage actually works (especially, since a local tv chef told me it wouldn’t…) and I was so pleased to see that it DOES! Since then, I’ve tried it in these cookies, Divinity (will post on that later), waffles, and soon a Lemon Chiffon cake. So if any of you are brave enough to diet through the holidays, are trying to give up gluten, or are looking for a creative and easy alternative to rice krispy treats…this is the cookie for you! Don’t believe me?  Check out all the reasons why I love this cookie!

1. GLUTEN FREE
2. Very low calorie. You can have FIVE for the price of ONE chocolate chip cookie.
3. Few ingredients (only 6 to be exact)
4. Low-fat
5. Can be made entirely from your pantry! (No refrigerated ingredients required)
6. Gourmet looking and tasting.

Plus, don’t they look really delicious? (Think a cookie that melts in your mouth!) Because beating egg whites can be scary (it was for me, for an embarassingly long time…*ahem* you know..until I tried it in powdered form) so I also made a how-to video so you can see how truly easy these gourmet cookies are to make!

GLUTEN-FREE FOOD STORAGE MERINGUES

3 egg whites (1 T. powdered egg whites + 3 T. water)
1/8 t. cream of tartar
1/8 t. salt
1 t. vanilla
3/4 C. sugar
1 C. mini chocolate chips (or nuts, dates, raisins)

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Beat egg whites with cream of tartar, salt, and vanilla until soft peaks form. Mix in sugar 1 T. at a time until stiff peaks form. Using two spoons, drop spoonfuls of meringue on parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake for 45 minutes. Then turn oven off and allow to sit in oven for 90 minutes. Store in air tight container.

If you’re wondering where to get powdered egg whites, currently you can get them from Honeyville Grains.

© 2011, Crystal. All rights reserved.

Have you ever had the deliciousness that is Great Harvest Pumpkin Bread? Have you ever wished you could re-create it….at home…using your food storage? Well maybe I’m the only one that wishes for making it at home AND food storage but at any rate, I found a great recipe (from extreme dinner makeover) that solves both problems and tastes just like Great Harvest pumpkin bread. (Please excuse the lack of the cool recipe feature…working on getting it to work with the new layout)

FOOD STORAGE GREAT HARVEST PUMPKIN BREAD

2 1/2 cups white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
3 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
16 oz cooked or canned pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
1 cup oil (or 1 cup bean puree)
4 eggs, beaten lightly (1/4 cup dry egg powder + 1/2 cup water)
2/3 cup water
1 cup semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips ( I did mine with out, not a huge fan of pumpkin and chocolate)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease two (9×5 inch) loaf pans or three (8×4 inch) loaf pans.
Mix flours, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt together in a large bowl; set aside.
Mix pumpkin, oil, eggs, and 2/3 cup water together and stir into dry ingredients. Stir in chocolate chips. Place batter in prepared pans.
Bake 60 or 70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

© 2011, Crystal. All rights reserved.

Pumpkin is a great for whole wheat recipes….and tummies.  And since this is the season for pumpkin, I figured it would be a great time to mix it with some food storage.  Why is pumpkin so great for food storage and whole wheat recipes?  Well, it’s simple really:  The five ingredients that make for great whole wheat recipes are

1. vegetable or fruit puree (like pumpkin, banana, zucchini)
2. strong spices (like cinnamon, cloves, pumpkin pie spice)
3. chocolate (lets be honest, everything tastes a little better with some chocolate)
4. oats and/or nuts(lends itself very well to the taste of whole wheat)
5. equal amounts of brown sugar and white sugar

And the best thing about most pumpkin recipes is that they will ask for one or more of the ingredients that make your recipe awesome as a whole wheat recipe!

Here is the recipe I made for Food Storage Cooking Club: Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls.  It’s a recipe I got from my aunt and I couldn’t get it out of my head.  Luckily, it was just as delicious (if not more so) as it sounded!

PUMPKIN CARAMEL ROLLS

Food Storage Pumpkin Caramel Rolls

Print

Recipe type: Breakfast

Prep time: 30 mins

Cook time: 12 mins

Total time: 42 mins

Serves: 12+

This recipe is great for whole wheat and for taste buds. It’s actually quite amazing and fast to make!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 Tblsp yeast
• 1/2 cup oil (I used 1/4 cup)
• 3/4 cup warm water
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
• 2 eggs (2 T. dry egg powder and NO WATER)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 5 – 5 1/2 cups flour (Use at least 1 1/2 C. whole wheat flour)
• 1/4 melted or softened butter, to spread on the dough
• 2 Tblsp Cinnamon
• 1/2 cup packed Brown Sugar
• Caramel Topping:
• Make this while Cinnamon Rolls are resting or baking.
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 packed Brown Sugar
• 3 Tblsp milk
• 1/4 tsp vanilla
• 3/4 cup powdered Sugar
• pinch of salt

Instructions

1. Mix sugar, yeast, oil, water and pumpkin. Let stand 15 minutes while getting your other ingredients Add eggs, salt, cloves, cinnamon, flour and knead 5 minutes. (Dough maybe sticky make sure you don’t add too much flour, a good test is to dip your fingers in flour and touch the dough. If it sticks you need more flour, if it doesn’t then it is good. Make sure you spray your hands and countertop with a non-stick spray when you are getting the dough out of your bowl)
2. Roll to rectangle 1/4″ thick
3. Spread butter on dough
4. Combine cinnamon and brown sugar and sprinkle on top of butter
5. Roll up the cinnamon rolls and cut in 1″ thick slices with string or knife.
6. Place on greased (I use reynolds quick release foil or parchment and don’t grease the pan or have any clean up) cookie sheet and let rest 15 minutes, or more.
7. Bake 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.
8. Meanwhile, make your Caramel Topping by melting the butter in a saucepan. Stir in Brown sugar plus milk and cook on low for 1 minute. Cool slightly (just so it is not HOT) and add vanilla, sugar, and salt. Stir with Wisk until well blended. Drizzle/spread rolls with frosting when they come out of the oven.
9. Frost, and eat warm. Rolls may be re-warmed in the microwave for 10 seconds.

Notes

If you want to make the dough entirely whole wheat, simply replace the white sugar with brown sugar and add in 1/4 C. gluten to the dough.

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WANT MORE FOOD STORAGE PUMPKIN RECIPES?

Low-Fat Pumpkin Brownies
Jack-o-Lantern Pumpkin Pie
Whole Wheat Pumpkin Muffins
Whole Wheat Pumpkin Bread
Pumpkin Bread Pudding
Fall Harvest Alfredo
Out of this World Pumpkin Cookies
Blender Pumpkin Waffles with Caramel Syrup
Impossible Blender Pumpkin Pie
Classic Pumpkin Pie

SHARE WITH US!

Which recipe are you planning on doing with your friends? Let us all know over at my facebook page! or send an email to efsshowoffs(at)gmail(dot)com

© 2011, Crystal. All rights reserved.

Today’s Saturday Show Off comes from Jenny P. Her and I share a couple things in common 1) we grew up in California 2) we love food storage and 3) are refried bean snobs! Put that all together and you get an easy, low-fat way to make your own delicious refried beans! Jenny also has a fun food storage blog you can check out at www.littlebeanfoodstorage.blogspot.com you can check out for more recipes. (So many great resources for food storage!)

Jenny says “Also I made some NEARLY FAT-FREE re-fried beans with my pressure cooker that are a bit spicy but so darn tasty I only eat them instead of restaurant refried beans…and that is saying a lot considering I am pregnant and having been eat re-fried beans from Joe Bandido’s here in Springville for nearly 2 months until I starting making these beans.  I posted them on my blog and you should really give them a try if I do say so myself…darn good!  Thanks for all you do!”

Saturday Show Offs: Creamy Low-Fat Refried Beans

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Recipe type: Side Dish

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 4 mins

Total time: 19 mins

Serves: 12

A wonderful alternative for tasty refried beans!

Ingredients

• 1 onion, peeled and halved
• 3 cups dry pinto beans, rinsed
• 1/2-1 fresh jalapeno pepper, seeded & chopped (I used 1 and my kids loved it)
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic*
• 3-5 teaspoons salt
• 1 3/4 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cumin, optional
• 10 cups water
• 1 Tblsp. sugar
• 1 Tblsp. chili powder

Instructions

1. Place the onion, rinsed beans, jalapeno, garlic, salt, pepper, sugar and chili powder and cumin into a slow cooker. Pour in the water and stir to combine. Cook on High for 8 hours, adding more water as needed (I had started with 9 cups but then added about another 1-2 cups after 4 hours so next time I will just start with 10 cups and check on it at 4 hours).
2. Once the beans have cooked, strain them, and reserve the liquid.
3. Option 1:Mash the beans with a potato masher, adding the reserved water as needed to attain desired consistency.
4. Option 2: Stain beans and put them with the jalapeno and onions into a blender with 1-2 cups of reserved liquid and blend. Add more liquid to get the consistency you want.

Notes

Pressure Cooker Directions: When I make these in my pressure cooker I add 1 lb. beans, 8 cups water, 4 tsp. olive oil, 1 tablespoon sugar, 2 tablespoons garlic powder, 1 1/2 tsp. pepper, 1/8 tsp cumin, 1 jalapeno, 1 onion chopped in half, 2 tsp chili powder. Then once they are cooked and I can open my pressure cooker I scoop everything solid into my blender and use 1/2-1 cup of the broth they were cooking in along with 2-3 tsp. salt and blend until creamy and yummy. To make them less spicy use less/no chili powder, 1/2 jalapeno to cook with but leave it out when blending. But I like it with everything in it…that way it is so flavor I don’t even add cheese to it….most times…haha!

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© 2011, Crystal. All rights reserved.

© 2011, Crystal. All rights reserved.