CHICKEN A LA KING

Using only food storage items

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup reconstituted butter powder or Ghee
• 8 ounces reconstituted freeze dried or dehydrated mushrooms
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 cups canned chicken broth or 3 tablespoons of powdered chicken bouillon mixed into 2 cups water.
• 1 1/2 cups reconstituted powder milk or evaporated milk
• 1 cup freeze dried peas
• 1 cup chopped pimentos, or chopped freeze dried red/green bell peppers
• 4 cups chopped freeze dried chicken or drained canned chicken 

Directions

1. Melt butter/ghee in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Add drained mushrooms and saute till soft.
2. Add flour and stir until there are no more specks of flour left.  Stir and cook for about 2 minutes to brown the flour.  Pour in chicken broth and milk and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low and simmer until sauce is thickened.
3. Stir in freeze dried peas, drained pimentos/peppers, and chicken.  Simmer for about 3 minutes until everything is heated through.
4. Serve hot over cooked rice, pasta, toast or biscuits.

I served it over toasted homemade wheat bread

If your power goes off and you don't want to be opening your fridge or freezer..  Here's a delicious meal that can be on the table in 30 minutes or less, using ingredients that are in your pantry or long term food storage.

I used a small can of store bought chicken, my own dehydrated mushrooms, small jar of pimentos and a can of evaporated milk.

Bon Appetit

Impossible Buttermilk Pie

• 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup buttermilk 
• 1/2 cup biscuit mix such as Bisquick
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• pinch nutmeg  

Preheat oven to 350 and spray a 9' pie pan with none stick spray such as Pam

Beat together egg, buttermilk, melted butter, vanilla and sugar till smooth, add the biscuit mix and nutmeg,  beat till smooth and lump free.

Pour into prepared pie pan and bake for 30 to 40 minutes or till brown.

Cool for 10 minutes before slicing.. 

ONE POT OVEN BAKED CORN BEEF

6 hours cooking time

It sounds like a long time but slow cooking makes the brisket tender

• Preheat oven to 275 degrees
• Open meat package and toss the seasoning package.. you won't be needing it
• Rinse the meat under running water to remove excess salt and blood
• Pat meat dry and place fat side up in a cast iron skillet that has a lid. (or use foil)
• Cover and bake for 4 hours
• While the meat is baking slice several Brussels sprouts in half, place them into a bowl and add either fingerling potatoes or cubed red potatoes, a few sprigs of thyme, garlic powder, salt and pepper.. drizzle olive oil over all and toss.
• At the end of 4 hours remove meat from oven and place veggie mix around the meat, cover and return to oven for an additional 2 hours.

I like serving it in the skillet and adding corn on the cob as a second side.

Raisin Bran Bread for Bread Machine

RAISIN BRAN BREAD

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon water

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons butter, softened

1 1/2 cups raisin bran cereal

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

2-1/4 cups all purpose flour

2-1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 teaspoon gluten

1/2 cup rasins

DIRECTIONS:

Place first 9 ingredients in bread machine pan in order suggested by manufacturer.. Select basic bread setting, choose crust color and 1.5 pound loaf size.

Check dough after 5 minutes of mixing, add 1-2 tablespoons water or flour if needed.

When machine beeps for fruit and nuts, add the raisins.

Yields 1 loaf (1-1/2 pounds, 16 slices)

Bread Machine Sweet Potato Bread

To make a one pound loaf you will need:

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup cooked and mashed sweet potato
1/4 cup oil of your choice.. I used peanut oil
1 egg
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 cup chopped nuts
1/2 cup raisins, chopped dates or dried cranberries or a mix of all three.
2 tablespoons water

Mix all ingredients in a bowl, remove the paddle from the baking pan, pour batter into pan and set machine to bake only.. my machine bakes for 1 hour.. at that time using a toothpick or a knife check to see if the center is done, if not then reset machine to bake again and check every few minutes.. My loaf took 1 hour and 20 minutes.. 
When bread is done in center, press stop on the machine and dump the bread out onto a wire rack to cool.

You can also make this using the quick bread setting on your machine.. 
Leave the paddle in the machine, add all ingredients and set machine to quick bake, it will both mix and bake the bread.. 
at the end of the baking cycle, check the center of the bread and if its not done yet then set the machine to the bake setting and let it continue baking, checking ever so often till the inside of the bread is no longer sticky.

Before baking I sprinkled pumpkin seeds on top, you could sprinkle on chopped nuts or nothing at all.. you're choice.

Bread Machine Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Cinnamon Raisin Bread

I converted this recipe from a very old 1963 Better Homes & Gardens bread book that I bought years ago at a book sale..  I made a few changes to the recipe but basically its pretty much identical to the original recipe.. I did  cut the recipe in half to make a one pound loaf.. I also added a cinnamon sugar swirl to the middle and I soaked the raisins in boiling water to soften them, plus added nuts.

RECIPE:

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons of milk

1 egg

2 tablespoons butter cut into small slivers

2 tablespoons sugar

3/4 teaspoons salt

1 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour

1 1/4 teaspoons active dry years

ADD IN'S

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1 tablespoon of cinnamon mixed into 1 tablespoon white sugar.

If you want soft raisins, pour hot water over them and let sit till ready to use then drain well.

DIRECTIONS:

Place all ingredients (except raisins, nuts and cinnamon sugar) into bread machine starting with liquid first, ending with yeast last..  

Set the machine on dough cycle and let it knead for 10 to 15 minutes then add in the drained raisins and nuts and let it finish..

When the dough cycle is finished, remove the dough and place on a board or the counter.. using either your hands or a rolling pin smooth the dough out till its about 1 inch thick and rectangular in shape ..

sprinkle water over the dough and using your hand spread it around so all the top of the dough is damp, then sprinkle on the cinnamon sugar.. 

Starting on the narrow end, roll the dough into a log, tucking in the ends if its longer then the bread machine baking pan.. 

Remove the paddle from the bread machine and place the dough into the pan, close the lid and let the bread rise till its double in size..

When risen enough, set the machine to bake only and press start.. it should take about one hour to finish baking.

When the machine beeps, remove the bread to a wire rack and let cool..  

After its cool you can add a glaze if you wish:

1 cup confectioner sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons milk

blend well and drizzle over loaf

ENJOY

CONTAINER GARDEN JUNE UPDATE

Just a few of the plants that I planted a month ago.. the above is a yellow squash that my daughter paid 25 cents for 4.. they were half dead but look how well this one had done in only a month.


This one even has a baby squash on it and I have lots of herbs growing which I've already been eating and drying for this winter..

Several pots of basil

This pot has oregano, basil and parsley

more basil, rosemary, chives and green onion

Today a local store had all their pots on clearance
$6 for these large ones

$2 for this green pot

and potting soil $1 a bag
I bought 10 bags

In my kitchen window I've got cucumbers seeds
they will be planted in one of the large pots and green beans in the rest of the pots.

Caramel Apple Monkey Bread Baked in Crock Pot's New Casserole Pot

I didn't even know Crock Pot had made a casserole pot until I stumbled across this one at a Kroger store.

Loving crock pots like I do (I only owned 8 of them)

This baby came home with me making it my 9th pot :-)

First day I baked enchiladas in it, second day I baked baby back ribs.. everything turned out delicious and perfectly done.

So then my devious mind went to work thinking up what else I might use it for..

I started wondering whether I could bake in it.. maybe something like monkey bread.. 

Here's what I did and the results:

BTW don't ask for a recipe because I don't have one, I just used what I had and could fix up myself such as caramel sauce which I will share that recipe with you.

Chopped and slightly cooked 4 apples with a bit of lemon juice and sugar. I wanted to get all the moisture out of them.

 Then I poured a bit of white sugar into a bowl and added cinnamon until it looked good to me.

Chopped up and toasted a bit of pecans.. you can toast them in the microwave, just drizzle on a bit of olive oil and do in 30 second increments, stirring each time and checking until their the way you want them.. go slowly, they do burn easily if cooked too long.

 Once all the moisture is out of the apples, spread them on a plate to cool.

While their cooling make the caramel sauce:

CARAMEL SAUCE

Put in a sauce pan

1 cup of packed brown sugar

1/2 cup of half and half or cream

4 tablespoons butter

pinch of salt.

Bring to a boil and simmer until thick stirring frequently..

Once thick add 1 tablespoon of vanilla and simmer again until as thick as you want..

Melt 4 tablespoons of butter and sit it aside to cool

Now you're ready to assemble the monkey bread

I used two cans of cheap biscuits for this.. 

cut each biscuit in quarters and toss in the sugar/cinnamon mixture

After you have one can sugared, lay them out in the bottom of the greased casserole dish.

Spread the apples over top, add the nuts and then cut and sugar the second can of biscuits and lay them on top.. sorry I forgot to take a picture of the separate layers.. but there are two of them, biscuits on bottom, apples and nuts in the middle with the last can of biscuits on top..

Drizzle the melted butter on top and then the caramel over it all.

Cover and bake on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours.. I started out on low then got impatient and turned it to high.  just keep a check on them, you can tell if their done by pinching a center piece of dough..

here they are when they were done.. you can see where I pinched off a tiny piece of a biscuit :-)

I let them sit for 5 minutes before turning out onto a platter..

I learned something.. not only is the casserole dish heavy it's hard to flip over so the next time I bake something in it, I'm going to remove piece by piece using a spatula.. or just leave it in the dish.. 

Here it is upside down out of the pan

 Will I do this again? 

I sure will.. its fun, easy and no oven heat..

Main Street Meatloaf using Dehydrated Veggies

This is a recipe that came with my FoodSaver..  

I made a few changes such as using dehydrated veggies but the basic recipe is still the same.. 

All the dried foods came from my garden and was dried in my Excalibur

MAIN STREET MEATLOAF

4 tablespoons dried onions 

4 tablespoons dried celery

4 tablespoons dried chopped or shredded carrots

3 tablespoons dried chopped mushrooms

3 tablespoons dried chopped red, orange and yellow bell peppers

1 tablespoon dried parsley

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

4 cloves garlic, minced (I used fresh)

1/2 cup light cream or milk

1/2 cup ketchup

2 lbs lean ground beef

1 lb of savory pork sausage

3/4 cup bread crumbs 

TOPPING

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup tomato sauce

3 thick slices of bacon

place all dried vegetables (not herbs) in a bowl and cover with boiling water.. let sit for about an hour then drain. 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees, Coat a large rectangular baking dish with cooking spray.

Place everything except the topping ingredients in a large bowl and mix thoroughly either by hand or using a Kitchen Aid mixer..

Shape into a loaf and place in baking pan.

Mix the tomato sauce and Worcestershire sauce together and spread over loaf.. place bacon on top and bake for 45 minutes or until internal temp reaches 162

Remove from oven, loosely cover and let rest for 15 minutes. 

Slice and enjoy

One of the best meatloaf recipes I've found.

Cooking With Dehydrated Apples

Last fall I dehydrated about 30 pounds of apples, we've ate all but 2 pint jars.  The more I use them the more idea's I'm coming up with.


I like to cook them in apple juice, sugar and a couple tablespoons of lemon juice... apple juice isn't necessary but adds greatly to the flavor.  They make a nice side dish for pork and really good just as a dessert..  

This morning my daughter ate some on waffles and as I was watching her enjoy her breakfast it came to me they just might be delicious in cinnamon rolls..
So I made my usual batch of rolls, added the normal cinnamon, butter, sugar, nuts and on top of that I spread out the rest of the apples, rolled them up and sliced and baked.

After they cooled I added my standard icing which I like to use almond extract in place of vanilla.. 

Here's one cut in half and its really delicious..

Yummy

Dehydrating Herbs

This is what is in my dehydrator today
Chives, green onions, basil, sage, oregano, thyme and a white onion because I had an empty tray.

Yesterday I dried 20 limes

Our local Mexican store had them 10 cents each

Plus beautiful jalapeno peppers for 99 cents a pound.

Going to be some good eats this winter

Easy and Delicious Zucchini or Banana Bread

Have you ever wanted to make zucchini or banana bread that was soft and light like what the store sells?  Or those expensive muffins that we all love but don't like the price or the amount of calories?

I have found out how to do it.

You can use my basic method to make any kind of bread you wish by changing the add in ingredients.. I've tried just about everything I can think of and it has never failed me.

This batch I made today has 2 cups of zucchini, one banana, two handfuls of blueberries and half cup chopped pecans.

Delicious!!!

What you need is one box of yellow or white cake mix

 (yes, I know we've all saw those recipes on the net using cake mix to make muffins, I don't know if theirs is good or not but how I make mine really works)

Add in's.. Two cups (you can use a bit more if you wish) of what ever you want:

Grated zucchini

Crushed ripe banana's

Blueberries

Chunks of strawberries

Orange zest (but not two cups) :-)

Diced sweetened cranberries

Diced apples

Grated carrots

Raisins

let your imagine go wild here..

What I meant about the orange zest is if you want to make cranberry orange bread, it really kicks it up a notch to add a teaspoon of orange zest and use orange juice for the liquid.

To make your batter, add everything the box of cake mix calls for except for the liquid.

My box called for 3 eggs and 1/3 cup oil

Place it all in a large mixing bowl and add your zucchini or whatever you've chosen.  I used one banana and two cups of zucchini.

Mix it all together with a hand mixer 

Dump the box of cake mix on top and beat until well mixed

The batter will be thick and that's how you want it because this is where the fun part comes in..

If you've made cakes before then you already know the consistency of a cake batter.. 

Now it's time to decide on the wet ingredient.

I'm sure the box says to use water but 

NO

wet ingredient choices are:

spiced rum

apple juice

orange juice

mixed berry juice

etc. etc.

Choose something that goes well with the fruit/veggie you've used..

I love to use spiced rum when making just straight banana bread but this bread was going to have blueberries folded in so I used 

Apple juice

only as much as needed for the right consistency, I usually start with half the amount of liquid the box called for, you can always add a splash more if needed but you can't take it back out. 

Here it is after adding the apple juice and folding in the blueberries

Not too runny or too thick

I like baking sweet breads in a bunt pan

^^^^

Bake at the same temp the box calls for which is usually 350 degrees but expect it to take a bit longer then usual.

This batch took 50 minutes.. bake until a tooth pick comes out clean..

of course muffins will bake faster. 

There you go.. 

Another perfect sweet bread

In the morning, grab a cup of coffee, a slice of sweet bread and kick back and reflect on all the healthy ingredients you put in it

veggies, fruit, fruit juice, eggs and nuts

I hope you give this a try

Container plants that survived the winter

I do all my planting in containers and last Fall I brought my thyme and parsley indoors to sit in my kitchen window in hopes it would make it till Spring when I could replant it outdoors.. 

Winter in my area is usually a lot of gloomy days with little to no sunshine but these two plants hung in there and are now enjoying warm sunny weather.. soon I'll be replanting them into larger containers..

I also dug up some of my chive's and put them in a smaller pot to sit in the window along with some onions I'd had in a glass of water..

I didn't do much clipping off these plants, they seemed best to leave them alone.

I knew from experience that chives would survive the cold winter which they have done and are now growing nicely

What really surprised me was finding my sage coming back to life

Now before any of you start telling me these plants always come back up in the Spring, let me remind you, they spent the winter in pots that got rained, sleeted and snowed on and most of the time the dirt in the pots froze solid.

That is what's so amazing