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

Yeah, you heard me right.  Isn’t that so exciting?  It’s sort of reminiscent of the Great Food Storage Cookie Extravaganza (download that food storage handout if you missed it)  Why am I doing this?  Well, let’s be honest we all eat cake now and  wouldn’t you like to know how to do it healthier, for less money, and with your food storage?  Let’s be honest, if and when it all hits the fan-comfort food will still be necessary!  And, I think we’ve all been over come with boring old cake mixes.  There are GREAT cake recipes out there that will dazzle your taste buds and amaze you with their simplicity!….Enter Chocolate Molten Cake…

Have any of you eaten at Chili’s and had their chocolate molten cake?  It’s so delicious and is all the rage to make at home.  I’ve seen a lot of recipes all involving special little bundt pans for individual cakes and a lot of time and effort.  Well this recipe that I’m going to share with you was big in the 50′s and tastes JUST LIKE Chili’s Chocolate Molten Cake but you can make it in one 8×8 cake pan, use your food storage, and make it in the same amount of time it would take you to whip up a cake mix.  You may have heard it under names like Magic Cake, Pudding Cake, Hot Fudge Cake, or Surprise Cake.  Why?  Because it is really magic, it makes it’s own sauce or pudding if you will-so of course this is a great cake to serve warm with ice cream.  Honestly, my husband ate half the cake (and that is saying a lot for him!)

Food Storage Chocolate Molten Cake

1 cup all-purpose flour (1/2 C. whole wheat flour + 1/2 C. All-purpouse flour)
3/4 cup sugar
6 tablespoons baking cocoa, divided
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup 2% milk (3 T. dry non-instant powder milk or 1/3 C. instant powder milk + 1/2 C. water)
2 tablespoons canola oil (2 T. bean puree)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup packed brown sugar
1-3/4 cups hot water
Whipped cream or ice cream, optional

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, 2 tablespoons cocoa, baking powder and salt. Stir in the milk, oil and vanilla until smooth.

Spread in an ungreased 9-in. square baking pan. Combine brown sugar and remaining cocoa; sprinkle over batter. Pour hot water over all; do not stir.

Bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes. Serve warm. Top with whipped cream or ice cream if desired.

Crystal’s Tip: If you’re using a glass pan, decrease your cooking temperature to 325. Why? Glass bakes hotter than metal and you won’t get that burnt chocolate taste.

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.

Okay, Diana get’s total food storage brownie points.  Not only does this recipe use great food storage ingredients, it  was also baked in the Sun Oven! Diana got this recipe from http://sunoven.com where they have a lot of great Sun Oven Recipes for you to try.

Sun Oven Applesauce Muffins

Ingredients

Topping:

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Muffins:

2 cups all-purpose flour (whole wheat would work great as well!)
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 large egg, at room temperature (1 T. dry egg powder with 2 T. water)
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar (1/2 cup white sugar with 1/2 TBS
molasses mixed in)
1 1/4 cups unsweetened applesauce (made from my food storage
dehydrated apples then blended in blender)
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/4 cup milk (1 1/2 TBS powdered milk plus 1/4 cup water)

Equipment

Two muffin pans with six indentations each with cooking spray,
silicone muffin molds and a baking pan, or a combination.

Preparation

Set Global Sun Oven out to preheat. Spray muffin tins or molds with
cooking spray.

Topping:

Mix together sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Stir in butter until
blended.

Muffins:

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, granulated sugar, baking
powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon until well combined. Set
aside.

In another medium bowl, whisk together the brown sugar and the egg
until thick and pale brown, about 3 minutes. Whisk in the applesauce,
melted butter, and milk, until blended. Use a wooden spoon to stir
the flour mixture into the liquid ingredients until moistened.

Fill the prepared tins three-quarters full. Sprinkle topping over
each muffin. Bake in Sun Oven until muffins are lightly browned,
about 40 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the center of one muffin
should come out with a crumb or two attached.

Makes 12 to 18 muffins.

© 2011, Crystal. All rights reserved.

Well, here I am preparing for my cookie swap tomorrow.  I’m demoing how to make meringues using powdered egg whites (yes, totally possible and so low calorie for all of you brave enough to diet through the holidays!)  So, of course, you can also expect a video on that next week.  But to get the food storage cooking club off to a great start this month, I thought I’d expand your horizons to some different cookies besides chocolate chip and Rice Krispy treats but that are just as easy to make and VERY IMPRESSIVE looking!

I don’t know if any of you have tried store bought macaroons….but…..blech!  I don’t know why it surprised me that they would actually taste leaps and bounds better than anything I had from the store…but they are SO MUCH BETTER!  I couldn’t believe how easy they were to make, how few ingredients it actually called for, and how mine were the only macaroons on the table tonight at the activity I brought them to.  (Plus, I’m pretty sure no one knew I snuck in food storage…but that is our secret!)

FOOD STORAGE MACAROONS

© 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.

Google Recipe View Microformatting by Easy Recipe

2.1.7

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.

Alright, so if any of you are tired of buying cold cereal and would like to know how to use more of your food storage to have as cereal (outside of the obvious oatmeal) this is the post for you! I have a new favorite cereal and it comes straight from my food storage. Now, I’m not going to lie to you when I was younger (like 5) and we were living off of food storage out of necessity I hated eating this cereal and in fact it was one of the biggest things that scared me about food storage when I first began. However, I’m very happy to report I’ve figured out how to make whole wheat cereal absolutely delicious…you heard me….delicious!

First you need to catch up on how to cook whole wheat kernels. I like to do mine in my pressure cooker (see video below) because it takes half the time of the stove top method…

STOVE TOP METHOD FOR COOKING WHEAT KERNELS (OR BERRIES)

1. Measure 1 cup and place in a strainer. Wash the wheat berries thoroughly under running water, even if they were packaged.
2. Place them in a medium saucepan and cover with about 2 inches of water. Cover and let them soak overnight.
3. Drain the water in the morning and rinse the wheat berries once more.
4. Add the 3 cups of water and salt to the wheat berries and bring to a vigorous boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 1 hour, or until they split open and turn chewy.

PRESSURE COOKING YOUR WHEAT KERNELS (OR BERRIES)

Once you’ve cooked up your wheat kernels, the cereal is very easy to do. But it must be done in this order (this was my mistake as a 5 year old)

WHOLE WHEAT CEREAL

1. Put warm wheat kernels in your bowl.
2. Pour a little bit of honey on top and stir to coat. (This is the important step, if you wait to put the honey in after you’ve put in the milk the honey just swims around in the milk and you lose the wonderful taste of honey mixed with the wheat.)
3. Pour in milk (get brave and try some powdered milk).
4. Add in freeze dried strawberries or any other freeze dried fruit.

Oh my! It’s so delicious. Everyone go try it and let me know how you like it!

© 2011, Crystal. All rights reserved.

Look what I found while shopping at Costco the other day?! I couldn’t believe it when I saw it!

WHAT IS SO IMPORTANT ABOUT SHELF STABLE WHOLE MILK?

Did you know that one of my most commonly asked questions is what families with young children still drinking whole milk should store in their food storage since powdered milk is non-fat? This provides a great back up for those of us with toddlers and for who a high fat milk is important. (Did you know that the fat in milk is essential in brain development in young children?) Not to mention a nice back up for a snow storm or to prevent a late night trip to the store!

HOW WOULD I STORE SHELF STABLE MILK?

Hershey’s says…

HERSHEY’S Shelf Stable Milk can withstand temperature variations wonderfully.

Putting the product on the shelf then in the refrigerator back and forth causes no harm to the product as long as it remains unopened.

The best temperature to store the milk is from 33° F to 80° F.

It can withstand higher temperatures but this will cause the milk to age quicker (leading to off flavor and a slight brown tinge).

The temperature the milk can be stored at is related to time. Storing the milk at 81° F to 108° F over the shelf life will simply cause the milk to age sooner but will not cause injury or illness. Storing the milk at 109° F for more than 10 days may cause the milk to sour or carton to swell but will not cause injury or illness. Storing the milk at 131° F for 5 days or more may cause the milk to sour or the carton to swell but will not cause injury or illness.

The milk should not be frozen as this will cause the appearance of the milk to be off.

We recommend serving the milk chilled.

After opening refrigerate the product and use within 14 days.

WHAT IS THE SHELF LIFE OF SHELF STABLE MILK-IN FOOD STORAGE TERMS?

It’s definitely not the same shelf life of powdered milk which is technically 30+ years. Shelf stable milk does have a use by date on the packaging which is usually with in a year or so.

WHERE CAN I PURCHASE SHELF STABLE MILK?

Well, apparently you can purchase it at some Costcos. You can check availability of Hershey’s shelf stable milk by state by clicking HERE or you can even purchase Borden shelf stable milk through places like AMAZON by clicking HERE.

IS IT CHEAPER TO USE SHELF STABLE MILK V. FRESH MILK?

No, it isn’t. But it is a great option if you have family members in need of whole milk that you would like to be prepared for.

WHAT ELSE CAN I STORE IF I DON’T WANT TO STORE SHELF STABLE WHOLE MILK

If you have a family member that benefits from whole milk but you don’t want to store shelf stable whole milk you can store extra amounts of peanut butter (which contains healthy fat for brain development) or canned evaporated milk. Both of those options do not have the shelf life of regular powdered milk but serve as good alternatives.

© 2011, Crystal. All rights reserved.

Were able to check out my latest appearance from Studio 5? Check out how to make your own pop tarts and your own fruit roll ups!

© 2011, Crystal. All rights reserved.

If you missed my latest appearance on Studio 5- click HERE to watch the video of how to make these delicious shakes using none other than powdered milk! (your favorite food storage item and mine!

Peanut Butter Moo’d:-makes two 8-ounce cups

Banana-Pineapple Freeze

© 2011, Crystal. All rights reserved.

Happy Cinco de Mayo! I received this recipe from my biggest fan (don’t you love moms?!-Speaking of awesome moms, don’t forget Sunday is Mother’s day!  If you haven’t already, download my FREE Food Storage Brunch handout for some great ideas for breakfast this year using food storage!) and knew it had to be a winner and PERFECT for today and your food storage! It’s a great way to use a lot of powdered milk and in so many different ways.

FOOD STORAGE TRES LECHES CAKE

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Pam or grease a 9 X 13 cake pan

Blend in blender: (put water in first)
1-1/2 Cup water
1/2 Cup + 1 T Dry Powdered Milk

In a mixer:
1 box yellow cake mix, dry
1/3 Cup oil
3 large eggs
1 Cup of the milk mixture from above and reserve the rest in the Refrigerator.
Beat the cake mix, oil, eggs, and 1 Cup milk mixture for 2 minutes on med. speed in the mixer.
Pour into prepared cake pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.
COOL in the pan before continuing.

In Blender:
1/2 Cup hot water
1-2 T butter
1 Cup Dry Powdered Milk
1 Cup Sugar
Blend VERY WELL in blender
add reserved milk mixture above & blend briefly again.

Using a dinner fork, poke holes all over the cake.
Pour the milk mixture evenly over the cake.
Refrigerate at least 1 hour or until liquid is absorbed.
Over night is best!

Serve with whipped topping
Garnish with Sliced Almonds or Toasted Coconut

Store left overs in the Refrigerator

© 2011, Crystal. All rights reserved.

Alright, just to prove you can take any favorite recipe and convert it to a food storage recipe. I found this recipe in the Friend Magazine (a religious children’s magazine) and knew it was perfect for food storage AND our Easter breakfast this year and hopefully every year after this! The dough is extremely light and fluffy and full of flavor….and now food storage! Now, some of you may be skeptical (not of the food storage) but of the ability to make a roll like this the morning of Easter and I don’t blame you! That’s why I will teach you a Super Mom Secret in the video (along with how to make the buns) so that you have NO mess, NO stress Easter morning. I promise it doesn’t get better than this!

BUNNY BUNS FOOD STORAGE STYLE

1 package active dry yeast (2 1/4 t. yeast)
1/4 cup warm water
1 cup milk, warmed not quite to boiling (3 T. non instant milk powder OR 1/3 c. instant milk powder + 1 C. water-I added my water to the 1/4 c. water mentioned above for dissolving my east)
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, beaten (2 T. dry egg powder and NO WATER)
1/4 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons grated orange peel
5 1/2 cups flour, sifted (I used 3/4 c. whole WHITE wheat flour and the rest bread flour)

Plain Glaze: 2 cups powdered sugar, 1/4 cup hot water, 1 teaspoon butter
Orange Glaze: 2 cups powdered sugar, 1/4 c. orange juice, 1 teaspoon butter, and 1 t. grated orange peel

1. Sprinkle yeast in the warm water and set aside.
2. In another bowl, blend milk, sugar, shortening, and salt. Cool until lukewarm, then add eggs, water with yeast, orange juice, and orange peel.
3. Stir in flour a few cups at a time to make a soft dough. Let stand for 10 minutes.
4. Knead dough 5–10 minutes on a lightly floured surface until dough is smooth and elastic. Place it in a lightly greased bowl, turning once to grease surface. Cover bowl with a clean towel and put it in a warm place. Let dough rise for 2 hours, or until double in size. Punch dough down and let stand for 10 minutes.
5. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a rectangle 1/2 inch thick. Cut dough into strips 1/2 inch wide and 14 inches long. Roll between hands into rounded snake shapes. Cut one strip into pieces 1/2 inch long, and roll into balls.
6. Place one long piece of dough on a greased cookie sheet. Place one end of the strip over the other to make a loop; bring the end that is underneath up and cross it over the other end. Place a ball of dough on top of the bottom loop.
7. Cover bunnies and let rise in a warm place for 45–60 minutes, until nearly double in size. Bake at 375ºF (190ºC) for 12–15 minutes.
8. For the glaze, stir powdered sugar, water, and butter together. Frost bunnies with the glaze while they are still warm.

SECRET SUPER MOM TIP!

Turn these into brown and serve rolls! Make them the day before (or even a couple of days before). After the buns are shaped rise to 1/3-1/2 the way to being doubled (so not all the way doubled). Cook in a 275 degree oven for 13-15 minutes. They should be blond in color and set (when you jiggle the pan they shouldn’t jiggle with it). Cool and cover. When you’re ready to eat them, pop them into a 400 degree oven for 5 minutes. Remove and glaze-SERVE WARM! These buns will be slightly brown on top and warmed through.

© 2011, Crystal. All rights reserved.