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

We’ve started this month right with the Chocolate Molten Lava Cake.  Mmmm….it makes my mouth water just thinking about it!  Remember, I’m doing this because there is more out there than just cake mixes people! L-O-T-S!  And when you are cooking more from scratch you a) have more control over the ingredients and b) you have more opportunities to use your food storage and c) can do it for a lot cheaper!

But I realized that I have gotten a little ahead of myself because you know I’ll be using a lot of beans in place of butter and oil.  Why? Well beans are CHEAP, from your dry beans you can make the equivalent of a can of beans (which is about a pound) for under 20 cents! Has anyone seen what a pound of butter costs these days?  Last time I checked it was around $3 a pound-good grief.  Plus, beans are virtually fat free, full of protein and fiber which means less calories and they make you feel full!  No joke!  I can eat one piece of cake made with beans instead of oil and feel FULL.  Before I could eat 2 (or 3 or 4) and not feel satisfied.  Plus, beans make a very moist product and I promise there is no bean taste!  And just because I know you’re wondering, I don’t use powdered butter or shortening because for the most part it isn’t cheaper than using fresh plus it lacks the protein and fiber of beans.  So, I want to make sure you all understand how to use the beans and how to be successful at it because I’m BIG on YOU figuring out how to do this with YOUR recipes.

TIPS FOR USING BEANS FOR OIL AND BUTTER

1. If your recipe calls for oil, you are going to use a bean puree.  What is a bean puree you ask?  It’s simply cooked beans with enough water to whirl in your blender.  If you want a simple way to try this, take a can of beans (the entire can) and dump it in the blender and blend it.  Done.
2. If your recipe calls for butter, you are going to use cooked, drained beans.
3. For substituting beans for both butter and/or oil you are going to use a 1:1 ration.  That means if your recipe calls for 3/4 C. oil, you are going to use 3/4 C. bean puree.  If your recipe calls for 1 C. butter you are going to use 1 C. beans.  You’ll use the same measurements for beans as your original recipe says to use for either the oil and/or butter.
4. When wondering which beans to use-you are going to match color for color.  If it is a chocolate cake, use black beans. If it is a spice cake, use pinto beans.  If it is a white cake, use white beans.  Now, here is the tricky part…you can also use white beans in chocolate cake but you can’t use black beans in your white cake.  Your family will wonder what all of those black specks are.  To be safe, you can use white beans in almost anything.
5. Now, you’re going to add the beans however your recipe says to use the butter and/or oil.  So, if your recipe says to cream the butter with the sugar-you’re going to cream the beans with the sugar.  If your recipe says to add the oil to the dry ingredients, you’re going to add the bean puree to the dry ingredients.
6. If you are using beans in something like brownies or cookies that are supposed to be chewy, the beans will not make it chewy-it will be cake like.  So if you’re family is big on chewy that doesn’t mean you have an excuse not to use beans.  It just means you need to use half oil/butter and half beans.  It will still be chewy and you’ll still be saving money and adding fiber and protein!  Remember, I’m not big into all or nothing-even a little or half is better than nothing and it’s important that your family likes what you make!

Use beans for breakfast, dinner and dessert with my Everyday Bean E-Cookbook!

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 if you link to me, either use the word “food storage” or “Everyday Food Storage” to link back to me.  Thanks-it makes all the hard work worth it!

© 2012, Crystal. All rights reserved.

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

© 2010 – 2011, Crystal. All rights reserved.

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.

© 2010 – 2011, Crystal. All rights reserved.

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!

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.

© 2010 – 2011, Crystal. All rights reserved.