Pressure Cooking Class: Introduction to Pressure Cookers
Welcome to the first “day” of class! Today’s segment will be an introduction to pressure cookers. You’ll learn why you should be using a pressure cooker, how pressure cookers came to be, the basics on how they work, basic safety measures, the differences between a stove top and electric pressure cooker, pressure cooker terms in recipes, and if your pressure canner will work as a pressure cooker and vice versa. The videos will take a total of 20 minutes to watch (each is about 10 minutes long) so make sure the kids are in bed or at school and that you’ve got the computer to yourself…and make sure your friends watch it too. Then you can experiment with your pressure cookers together! Also, make sure you check back on Wednesday to learn how to pressure cook rice, beans, and wheat in a FRACTION of the time!
INTRODUCTION TO PRESSURE COOKERS: PART ONE
INTRODUCTION TO PRESSURE COOKERS: PART TWO
Announcement: You’re Invited to my FREE Online Class!
I’m so excited to announce that I’m trying something new (and hopefully, you and your friends will LOVE it!) You all know that I wish I could visit more of you and hold classes. Unfortunately, it’s hard to configure that many schedules…my toddler’s being the worst! 
. So…I’m going to TRY and do a FREE sort of online class for you.
HOW IT WILL WORK: Because we’re all busy and have other things to be doing, I’ll be splitting it up over multiple days (posting Mondays and Wednesdays) with shorter tidbits of how to do something with the over all theme of the class, something everyone can fit into their schedule. (READ: It fits perfectly in your schedule because there is no set time, just check my blog ANYTIME to catch the latest installment of the class.) This means that during the duration of the “class” there will be a lot of how-to videos as if you were at a class-except this time you don’t have to worry about someone blocking your view and it will be like you’re right next to me in the kitchen-which is really the best way to learn! The real beauty is you can take what you learn and practice it before the next installment and leave your questions as comments on the post to be answered (this way, everyone can benefit from your question and the answer). So, no information overload! It promises to be a wealth of knowledge, given in well sized, usable, portions!
MARK YOUR CALENDARS: Now, that you’re excited (right?!), let’s talk about what the next topic will be and when it will start. We’ll be learning Pressure Cooking 101 and the class will run from Monday, April 26th through Friday, May 7th. Just like a regular class, make sure and bring your friends to the event! You can send them this invitation to make sure NOBODY misses out! Can’t wait to see you there! Click HERE to download a JPG of the invitation to use on your blog (just make sure you link the invite to this post) and click HERE to download a PDF of the invitation to email to others.
Noodle Making: Advanced Food Storage Recipes
Well ring in the new year with a challenge! I’m starting a new series with “advanced” or as I like to think of it as “next step” food storage. In this post, I’ll cover pasta making. It’s actually quite fun, tasty, and exciting to experiment with noodle making (think of the possibilities-spinach noodles, tomato noodles, etc.) Not to mention you can add wheat flour to them for a fraction of what you’ll pay in the store for “whole grain pasta,” be rotating through your food storage, and becoming more self reliant. But, the best part is, kids LOVE to help! I did this video at my parent’s house and my nieces and nephews (though not in the video) were fighting over who got to roll the next noodles. So give it a try, you’ll be pleasantly surprised-and using more of that food storage of yours!
Pasta Making: Part One (making the dough)
Pasta Making: Part Two (rolling and cooking with the dough)
Basic Pasta Making Recipe
1 egg (2 T. dry egg powder + 2 T. water)
2 T. milk (scant 1/2 t. dry milk powder + 2 T. water)
1/2 c. white wheat flour
1/2 c. all-purpose flour
Stir ingredients together in bowl. Using hands, knead dough until a hard ball of dough forms. (If dough is too dry slowly add water in SMALL amounts-a couple drops at a time.) Allow dough to rest, covered with a damp paper towel for 10 minutes. Roll in pasta maker according to pasta maker directions.
