THIS WEEK IS ALL ABOUT MAKING YOUR OWN CAKE, BROWNIE, & MUFFIN MIXES-FOOD STORAGE STYLE!

This week is the week where I am sharing with you awesome homemade mixes for cakes, brownies, and muffins from food storage and yesterday, I shared the Dark Chocolate Cake mix (the one that made me decide to NEVER buy another store bought mix again).  Today is BROWNIES….FUDGE BROWNIES.  Okay, if you’re like me-you’re nervous to try homemade brownies because, let’s be honest, there are a lot of BAD homemade brownie recipes out there.  Personally, to me, a good brownie has to be FUDGY and most store bought mixes are so ooey gooey fudgy and a lot of homemade brownies are not (or at least the ones that I’ve tried).  So, to be honest, I really debated on whether or not it would be possible to make a homemade brownie mix similar to what you would find at a store.  However, this was meant to be because-FINALLY!  I found THE BEST BROWNIE recipe for making a homemade brownie mix. The best news, for someone like me who loves beans, is that it is STILL fudgy even after substituting 100% of the oil for beans.  Totally A-W-E-S-O-M-E!

HOMEMADE FUDGE BROWNIE MIX-FOOD STORAGE STYLE!

• 3 C. cocoa
• 8 C. white sugar
• 2/3 C. dry egg powder
• 4 C. flour (I use 1/2 whole wheat flour and 1/2 all-purpose-100% whole wheat can be a little gritty)

Combine ingredients thoroughly and store in air tight container.

USING THE MIX:

• 4 C. brownie mix
• 1 C. oil or bean puree
• 1 t. vanilla extract
• 1/3 C. water
• 1 C. chopped walnuts, optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Add wet ingredients to mix and stir until mixed.

Spread in greased 13×9 inch pan. Bake for 35 minutes (do not overbake).  (Bake 50 minutes for 8×8 pan.

THE ONE BOWL RECIPE:

• 3/4 C. cocoa
• 1 C. butter, melted (or bean puree)
• 2 C. white sugar
• 3 eggs (3 T. dry egg powder + 1/3 C. water)
• 1 t. vanilla extract
• 1 C. flour (I use 1/2 whole wheat flour and 1/2 all-purpose-100% whole wheat can be a little gritty)
• 1 C. chopped walnuts, optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix dry ingredients together.  Add wet ingredients and stir until mixed.

Spread in greased 13×9 inch pan. Bake for 35 minutes (do not overbake).  (Bake 50 minutes for 8×8 pan.

CRYSTAL’S EXPLANATION

So I know what you’re thinking now.  “Oh MY!  A WHOLE CUP of oil?!  My store bought mix only calls for 1/2 – 3/4 C. oil-how is this healthier?”  Well, here is the deal.  Your brownie mix from the store has partially hydrogenated oils in it.  They have already put in some of the oil required in the recipe in the mix.  If you are nervous about any other part of the recipe (lots of sugar, etc.), the sad thing is, it’s the ugly truth about brownies.  Part of why I like cooking from scratch is that you can actually SEE what is going in the recipe and with a mix you can’t.  You can judge just from the ingredients how much you should really have.  And again, another plug for using BEANS for oil and butter and adding whole wheat to your mix!  The fiber and protein in the beans and wheat help your body digest the sugar easier, fills you up faster, and cut the calories from the fat.

DOWNLOAD MY FREE HOW-TO MAKE HOMEMADE MIXES HANDOUT!

It’s my latest and greatest handout (yes, I’ve been up past midnight for the last three nights working on it…so feel free to leave comments on how much you love it!

It includes…

1. How to make your own homemade cake, brownie, and muffin mixes
2. How to use beans for butter or oil in your baking
3. My favorite mixes and one bowl recipes for brownies, muffins, white cake, yellow cake, and chocolate cake
4. AND…my favorite glazes and frosting recipes to use for cakes (including the glaze I used for the chocolate cake!).

Yeah….it’s pretty much the neatest thing since sliced bread! Make sure and download your copy today! And please feel free to pass it along to others! This is meant to be used AND SHARED!

Help Spread the Word!

I love it when you share my tips and recipes for food storage! Do me a quick favor (and remember it’s my birthday!), 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.

THIS WEEK IS ALL ABOUT MAKING YOUR OWN CAKE, BROWNIE, & MUFFIN MIXES-FOOD STORAGE STYLE!

Is this not the most beautiful cake you’ve ever seen?  Not only is it beautiful but it tastes amazing.  All month long we’ve been talking about making cakes with food storage (cakes like Chocolate Molten Cake, Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes, and Whole Wheat Angel Food Cake-just to name a few).  So this week it’s time to tackle cake mixes that you can make at home and from scratch.  Now, realistically speaking these recipes are so easy that you wouldn’t need to make a mix ahead of time or you can mix up 4 mixes at a time to have on hand to save you even more time!  To give you a clue as to how easy these are-I made this Dark Chocolate Bundt Cake, a Yellow Cake with homemade Chocolate Buttercream frosting, Jumbo Blueberry Muffins, and Brownies all in one afternoon (in about 2 hours) and ALL FROM SCRATCH.  I was like a one woman bake sale.   The best part (outside of having lots of cake to eat) is that they were all so incredibly good, whole grain, and FAT-FREE!  I don’t know a cake mix anywhere that can claim all three of those in the same sentence.  I know what your next question is… So what about food storage mixes that you can buy, you know the kind in the #10 can.  Well why buy them when you can use all the ingredients you have on hand and actually make them taste good!  The food storage mixes you can buy still have a lot of ingredients you can’t pronounce because they are full of preservatives.  If you know how to do it yourself you are no longer a slave to the grocery store!  (It really is a liberating feeling!)

DARK CHOCOLATE CAKE MIX-FOOD STORAGE STYLE!

Now, this is the recipe that made me decide I will Never,EVER buy another cake mix again.  It’s fudgy, rich, decadent, and a billion times (not exaggerating) better than any cake mix.  It tastes like a doctored store bought cake mix-you know the kind where people add in sour cream, pudding, or both.  But, of course, with out all the added cost and calories.  In fact, this cake tastes great 100% whole wheat and with beans instead of the oil. In fact, I was on Studio 5 (a morning show here in SLC) sharing how you can make YOUR OWN mixes and highlighting how to make this one….

MAKING THE MIX:
(Makes 4 mixes)
• 8 C. sugar
• 7 C. (I use whole wheat flour)
• 3 C. cocoa or dark cocoa
• 2 T. baking powder
• 2 T. baking soda
• 4 t. salt
•1 C. dry egg powder
• (2/3 C. non-instant dry milk powder or 1 1/3 C. instant dry milk powder)

Combine ingredients thoroughly and store in air tight container.

USING THE MIX:
• 5 C. chocolate cake mix (make it a heaping 5 C. if you used instant milk powder)
• 1/2 C. oil or bean puree
• 2 t. vanilla
• 1 1/2 C. water
• 1 C. boiling water

Heat oven to 375. Spray 9-inch round pans, 13×9 or bundt baking pan.

Beat all ingredients except boiling water on medium speed of electric mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

Bake 30-35 minutes for round pans, 35-40 minutes for 9×13 pan or 50-55 minutes for bundt pan or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes and remove from pans to wire racks.

THE ONE BOWL RECIPE:
• 2 C. sugar
• 1 3/4 C. (I use whole wheat flour)
• 3/4 C. cocoa or dark cocoa
• 1 1/2 t. baking powder
• 1 1/2 t. baking soda
• 1 t. salt
• 2 eggs (1/4 C. dry egg powder + 1/2 C. water)
• 1 C. milk (3 T. non-instant dry milk powder or 1/3 C. instant dry milk powder +1 C. water)
• 1/2 C. oil (or bean puree)
• 2 t. vanilla
• 1 C. boiling water

Heat oven to 375. Spray 9-inch round pans, 13×9 or bundt baking pan.

Beat all ingredients except boiling water on medium speed of electric mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

Bake 30-35 minutes for round pans, 35-40 minutes for 9×13 pan or 50-55 minutes for bundt pan or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes and remove from pans to wire racks.

DOWNLOAD MY FREE HOW-TO MAKE HOMEMADE MIXES HANDOUT!

It’s my latest and greatest handout (yes, I’ve been up past midnight for the last three nights working on it…so feel free to leave comments on how much you love it!

It includes…

1. How to make your own homemade cake, brownie, and muffin mixes
2. How to use beans for butter or oil in your baking
3. My favorite mixes and one bowl recipes for brownies, muffins, white cake, yellow cake, and chocolate cake
4. AND…my favorite glazes and frosting recipes to use for cakes (including the glaze I used for the chocolate cake!).

Yeah….it’s pretty much the neatest thing since sliced bread!  Make sure and download your copy today!  And please feel free to pass it along to others!  This is meant to be used AND SHARED!

Help Spread the Word!

I love it when you share my tips and recipes for food storage! Do me a quick favor (and remember it’s my birthday!), 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.

If you’re doing a lot of Christmas baking (or if you don’t because it never seems to come out right) it’s worth investigating the two letter word in baking-HIGH ALTITUDE.  Cookbooks and most recipes are written for SEA LEVEL which is not a huge portion of US.  So…if you can’t figure out why your brownies never turn out or why your cake and muffins are flat or why your candy (CANDY ESPECIALLY is very sensitive to high altitude since water boils at a lower temperature the higher up you go-that means your soft ball and hard ball stages are actually lower than 240 and 260 respectively speaking) doesn’t turn out-you need to download my latest handout for HIGH ALTITUDE.Why does altitude matter?

At any altitude above sea level, the air pressure is lower. This lower air pressure can cause 3 major types of problems in your baked goods for elevations 3,500 feet above sea level.

1. Lower air pressure allows baked foods to rise faster. Leavening agents such as yeast, baking powder and baking soda create large gas bubbles that expand rapidly. The large bubbles can weaken the structure of baked goods and cause cakes and breads to collapse unless recipe adjustments are made.

2. Water also boils at a lower temperature (2 degrees per 1,000 foot increase), which affects both baking and cooking

3. Liquids evaporate faster at high altitudes so foods such as cooked frostings and candies will become harder more rapidly.

What can you do about it?

The good news is that it’s pretty easy to resolve high altitude baking issues. I’ve created a two page handout for you that you can download and keep with your cookbooks, on your fridge, or anywhere close that you can pull out and use. It covers cakes, candy, popovers, cookies, muffins, and anything you’d need to adjust for high altitude.

Click HERE to download the high altitude baking handout!

© 2011, Crystal. All rights reserved.

Sorry, I’m a day late on this post.  I just returned from Kanab, Ut (the greatest earth on show!) for my grandfather’s funeral.  I appreciate all of your condolences to me and my family.  He was a great man who loved God, his country, and his family (especially-there are a lot of us!) and he will be greatly missed!  In keeping on the family theme….our family is known for huge Thanksgivings-growing up my mom would cook Thanksgiving dinner for 40+ people (all family from out of town-that is how good her Thanksgiving dinner is).  So in case you’re in charge of any part of Thanksgiving Dinner, I hope you find these tried and true tips, recipes and food storage helps handy this weekend!

Also, make sure you are signed up for my mailing list (over on the right hand side of my blog) so you can get an early showing of the Black Friday food storage specials and information on how you can win a copy of Michael Buble’s newest Christmas album this weekend!)

FOOD STORAGE THANKSGIVING HELPS!

• *MOST IMPORTANT* Download my Thanksgiving Time Saving Tips Handout for more recipes and tips!
• Del’s Pie 101 Mini Class
• Food Storage Mock Pecan Pie (made with, you guessed it BEANS from your food storage!)
• Blender Impossible Pumpkin Pie
• Del’s Sour Cream Apple Pie
• Easy Butterscotch Creme Pie
• Classic Pumpkin Pie-Food Storage Style
• Berry Apple Pie
• Easy Dutch Apple Pie
• Aunt Naomi’s FAMOUS Rolls (a Thanksgiving CLASSIC at our house) including a video on how to shape the rolls.

© 2011, Crystal. All rights reserved.

So, I’ve been in denial for a really long time that I live at a high enough altitude to follow those “special instructions” for high altitude baking. I never had to do it before, growing up in San Diego is about as Sea Level as you can get. For some reason, I really thought changing it for high altitude wouldn’t make a difference in my baking here in Utah. Boy, was I wrong! For instance, my husband loves brownies and I remember liking brownies when I was younger but in my older years I decided I didn’t really love them…until I actually did the instructions for high altitude baking. Then it all came together for me-I haven’t liked brownies since I went to college and started living in Utah-where I haven’t been following instructions for high altitude and they turned out different.

But, it doesn’t stop with just store bought mixes! I also recently found out that cookbook recipes are tested and written for sea level….so if you live in high altitude (3,000 feet or above) and feel like you’re not a very good baker, it’s not you! It’s the altitude! I had no idea that most recipes in my cookbooks were setting me up for failure (or at least very mediocre results). And when we’re talking food storage we’ve got to make sure we’re doing everything correctly or we may think it’s the food storage that is failing us!

Why does altitude matter?

At any altitude above sea level, the air pressure is lower. This lower air pressure can cause 3 major types of problems in your baked goods for elevations 3,500 feet above sea level.

1. Lower air pressure allows baked foods to rise faster. Leavening agents such as yeast, baking powder and baking soda create large gas bubbles that expand rapidly. The large bubbles can weaken the structure of baked goods and cause cakes and breads to collapse unless recipe adjustments are made.

2. Water also boils at a lower temperature (2 degrees per 1,000 foot increase), which affects both baking and cooking

3. Liquids evaporate faster at high altitudes so foods such as cooked frostings and candies will become harder more rapidly.

What can you do about it?

The good news is that it’s pretty easy to resolve high altitude baking issues. I’ve created a two page handout for you that you can download and keep with your cookbooks, on your fridge, or anywhere close that you can pull out and use. It covers cakes, candy, popovers, cookies, muffins, and anything you’d need to adjust for high altitude.

Click HERE to download the high altitude baking handout!

© 2011, Crystal. All rights reserved.

FREE FOOD STORAGE YOGURT HANDOUT

1. the recipe for making the food storage yogurt from your powdered milk
2. the instructions for turning it into greek style yogurt and yogurt cheese,
3. ideas for how to use your food storage yogurt, greek style yogurt and yogurt cheese every day
4. helps for troubleshooting your yogurt
5. and food safety guidelines
6. I’ve also played around with the instant milk measurements so if you’re brave to try it again-it should work!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD MY FOOD STORAGE YOGURT HANDOUT FOR FREE!

© 2011, Crystal. All rights reserved.

 I’m assuming most of you have kids home from school today, so it’s a perfect time to post my first “Teaching kids to cook” lesson! Most of you have already downloaded my “Kids in the Kitchen” handout (and if you haven’t, I would by clicking HERE). It gives good basic information on WHY you would want kids in the kitchen, kid recipes, and a guide for knowing which kitchen tasks are appropriate for your different aged children. As you know, I feel very strongly that you should get your kids in the kitchen with YOU. It is a great time for talking, bonding, and teaching. The kitchen is the center of nourishing in the home. Not only for our physical bodies but for our souls as well. Cooking with kids involves all of their senses (smell, taste, touch, hearing, and seeing) which provides more ways for the brain to recall the memory; creating memories that will last a life time. In fact, my mother (who comes from a family of 12) including all of her siblings AND their friends warmest memories growing up is when they were helping my grandmother bake bread. I can honestly say, that my favorite times are spent cooking with my mom and I’m not the only one! Rachel Ray also gained her love of cooking from her mother and I can tell you from experience that it isn’t all about the food. It’s great one-on-one time where you can talk about the day and bond. Trust me, it doesn’t have to be torture for either of you!

In this lesson, you’ll learn great ways to teach your child how to follow a recipe and measure ingredients (along with some fun math and science activities to prove both are vital in every day life…just in case you have a child like me, who never thought I would use math or science past school-boy, was I wrong!) Please use what you can from it and target it towards what your child can do at their age level.

AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, HAVE FUN!

© 2010 – 2011, Crystal. All rights reserved.

I meant to do this as separate posts but ran out of time (obviously due to the flu) but this is better because now you can print it out and have it all in one spot.  This handout has MORE than just time saving tips.  It has time saving tips, AND recipes.  Including how to turn any roll recipe into a brown ‘n serve recipe, easy pie recipes, how to know how much you’ll need to use of your dehydrated vegetables and fruits in place of fresh vegetables and fruits and SO MUCH MORE!  If you know anyone, planning on helping or preparing Thanksgiving, make sure they get this!  And make sure you have a safe, and very happy family and stomach filled Thanksgiving!

Click HERE to download my Thanksgiving handout.

© 2009 – 2011, Crystal. All rights reserved.

Well, I’m happy to announce that we’re feeling better…at least for the most part.  I learned a lot while we were ALL sick which I’m going to share with you all (mostly that having food storage is a REAL life saver)!  I realized how hard it is to a) have everyone sick and b) have YOU sick as well!  So I created a Mom’s Survival Guide to the Flu.  It covers both H1N1 and the stomach flu.  It has tips for helping you, the mom, get things done, entertain a child if you’re sick, basic information about H1N1 & Stomach Flu, shopping lists of what to have on hand, cleaning tips and lists for sanitizing and disinfecting your home, and some of my favorite soup recipes.  As you can tell it is CHALK FULL of great information from what I learned over the past week.  Please download it, USE it, and share it with others!  It’s hard being a mom, so let’s all help each other out!

Click HERE to download my Mom’s Survival Guide to the Flu.

© 2009 – 2011, Crystal. All rights reserved.

To a lot of people this step of food storage is the scariest but, like most food storage principles, it is actually quite easy!  I get asked questions all the time about what and LDS cannery is like and/or what it’s like to can things at home and since the LDS Canneries just dropped their prices on their food, I figured now would be the PERFECT time to show you how it’s done!  You don’t need to be LDS to take advantage of an LDS cannery…we want EVERYONE prepared! Watch the video below to see how to work the “canner” or sealer. 

Now like I said before prices have just DROPPED at the LDS canneries.  I was so happily surprised when I went to purchase powdered milk and I found out that the price has been reduced by 30-percent! (That means that a can of powdered milk just dropped $2 a can…that is a HUGE savings!) That means that if you were to make a gallon of milk from powdered milk it would cost only $1.06, sweetened condensed milk would cost about 60-cents and evaporated milk costs about 20-cents made from powdered milk.  Now that will save your family A LOT of money!  

I also found out that the canneries have items already canned that you can purchase with out canning!  Those items are rice, oats, RED wheat, pinto beans, and a starter kit including the previously mentioned items.  They used to cost more to purchase because they were pre-canned but now they are the same price!  You can also purchase those items online, by clicking HERE.  So it’s a great day to hit the cannery!  (And you can’t say it’s scary anymore or that you don’t know what to do!

I’ve included some great links for you to use.  The first link is a link to the current pricing sheet, the second is a list of the price changes that I got from my cannery, and the third is also a handout I got from my cannery that helps breakdown how many cans you’ll need for your bulk purchases.  I know you can do it!

Current LDS Cannery Pricing Sheet

Breakdown of the Price Changes (so you can see how much cheaper things are now!)

Bulk to Can Conversion (so you know how many cans you need to get for your product)

Need more information?

If you have more questions about what or how much of it to store for your family visit, www.foodstoragemadeeasy.net or for more information on purchasing food storage visit, www.thefoodstorageshopper.net

© 2009 – 2011, Crystal. All rights reserved.