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.

So what exactly is a three month supply? What should be in it? Where should you store it? How do you know what should be in it? … These are all questions I’m commonly asked so I did a video to explain everything for you!

The pantry list I mention in the video can be downloaded by clicking HERE.

To check out Food Storage Made Easy’s VERY AWESOME Excel spreadsheet to keep track of what you should have click HERE. (Remember to watch their tutorial video!)

And if you haven’t already checked the Fun with Food Storage Network site, we’ve just added TEN new lesson plans to help you teach food storage to your kids and family (click HERE to view them). Keep checking the network site since we’ll soon be adding community lesson helps as well!

© 2009 – 2011, Crystal. All rights reserved.

I hope you all had as much fun as I did learning more about “The Wonderful World of Bread” Next we’ll be talking about homemade noodles and crackers. (YUM!) And remember, we’ll re-visit bread when we talk more about sourdough and it’s role in everyday baking along with emergency baking (i.e. if you don’t have yeast or can’t get to a store to buy yeast)

Now on to the fun stuff, Yes, that is correct! You’ve asked for it and you’re getting it…a FREE bread handout. It includes the Bread FAQ’s, how to make your own dough enhancers, and some of my favorite bread recipes along with links to the how-to videos on how to make them! (Yes, every recipe included on this handout also has a how-to video on my blog that you can watch.) Download the handout and feel free to pass it along to friends, family, or people you don’t want knocking on your door in an emergency. Let’s get everyone using their food storage!

p.s. I’ve had a lot of requests to get more conversion chart magnets available….which I have also done. Click HERE for more information on them and how you can order yours. Last time they went really fast, so if you’re interested I wouldn’t procrastinate.

© 2009 – 2011, Crystal. All rights reserved.