Cooking with Basic Food Storage: Peach Crisp and Apple Crumble

In my opinion, a perfect winter dessert incorporates all the yummy ingredients of a warm cinnamon-laden crumbly topping combined with baked fruit. So I'm sharing two recipes I've recently made which meet my winter dessert criteria and use food storage. My kids loved both but I preferred the apple crumble. I thought the Peach Crisp was a little juicy but they both were pretty tasty. In order to utilize more of my food storage, I used whole wheat flour.

Apple Crumble

1/2 c flour (whole wheat or regular)

1 1/2 c rolled oats

1 c brown sugar

1/2 c butter

4 c apples (about 7 medium)

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350. Cut apples into small pieces. Toss the apples with lemon juice and place in a lightly buttered baking dish. In a bowl, mix the flour, oats and brown sugar. Melt the butter in a saucepan or the microwave, and incorporate into the oats mixture. Spread the mixture over the apples. Place in an oven and bake at 350 for approximately 30 minutes.

Easy Peach Crisp

2 cans (15 1/4 oz. each) Sliced Peaches

1/3 c flour

1/3 c packed brown sugar

1/3 c old fashioned oats

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 c butter or margarine, melted.

Place fruit in 1 quart shallow baking dish. Combine flour, sugar, oats and cinnamon. Mix in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over fruit. Bake at 375 degrees, 30 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with ice cream, if desired.

Provident Living: Obtaining Free Babysitting

Do you long for a night out but don't want to spend a ton of money hiring a babysitter? The going rate around here for my four children is around $10 an hour. Ouch! For years, my husband and I didn't go out much because the cost of babysitting in addition to the cost of the date didn't seem worth it. Now I know the solution, thanks to the ingenuity of my brother and his wife. They arranged a babysitting swap with some of their friends. Here's how it works:

• Find another family with kids around the same age as your kids whom you trust to babysit your children. Make sure the kids get along with each other. It makes it easier!


• Select a night where your friends watch your kids, then you watch theirs another night.


• Agree upon a time limit (for example, 4 hours.) This will prevent future problems.


• Create a schedule, type it up and make it official. Provide a copy to each family participating.

I also used to be a member of a babysitting co-op. This was a great way for me to go to doctor/dentist appointments minus my kids and could have been a great resource for me. Unfortunately, I didn't utilize it much because I didn't really know all the mothers who were part of it and I wasn't comfortable using unknown babysitters. They had monthly meetings but I never went. If I had attended, I might have gotten to know the other partipants. Just because I didn't take advantage of it, joining or starting a babysitting co-op is another great way to obtain a much needed break from the kids for free. When establishing a babysitting co-op, setting ground rules is key. If you're interested, here's a link to a great article about creating a babysitting co-op:
http://stayathomemoms.about.com/od/supportnetwork/tp/babysitting-cooperative-rules.htm

Cooking with Basic Food Storage: Another recipe for bread in one hour and ten minutes from start to finish!

I stumbled across the Chef Brad website today and found a recipe that makes 5 loaves of bread from start to finish in one hour and ten minutes. Mmm! It is delicious and quick and my kids love it! Click below to find it!

http://chefbrad.com/grain/free-recipes_view.php?recipeid=132&category=Bread&rcatid=3

Cooking with Basic Food Storage: Oatmeal Raisin Bites using Whole Wheat and Oats

As some of you know, I have been on weight watchers for the last few months. It has been a great experience and I have lost over 50 lbs. Despite my lifestyle changes, I still crave sweets every now and then. Imagine my delight when I tried this delicious recipe which also uses my food storage. As the recipe says, "These oatmeal-raisin cookies may be small, but they have a big granola taste and they're loaded with fiber, too." I loved them and so did my family. For any weight watchers aficionados, one cookie is one point!

Oatmeal Raisin Bites

1 1/2 cups rolled oats

3/4 c whole-grain wheat flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 c butter, softened

1/4 c sugar

1/2 c brown sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 c raisins, chopped (I chopped them in the blender)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine oats, flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon; set aside. Using an electric mixer, cream butter and both sugars until incorporated. Add egg and vanilla; mix thoroughly. Add oat mixture and mix until just combined; fold in raisins.

Drop rounded teaspoons of batter about 1 inch apart onto 2 ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 9-10 minutes for chewy cookies or 11-12 minutes for crispy ones. Remove from oven and let cookies rest for about 2 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Cooking with Basic Food Storage: Delicious Whole Wheat Bread in Your Mouth in 1 Hour and 20 Minutes!

I posted a very similar bread recipe, courtesy of my sister, Emily, which contained vitamin c and rapid rise yeast a few months ago. Yesterday I didn't have either one so I tried making the bread by increasing the yeast amount and it worked just as well. Our whole family loved the bread so much that I made two more loaves this morning. I love, love, love that the entire bread-making process is complete in one hour and twenty minutes, including baking time. Try this recipe. . . it's easy, healthy and delicious, especially right out of the oven!

Whole Wheat Bread in 1:20
6 cups whole wheat flour

2 tablespoons yeast

1/4 cup high gluten flour

3 cups very warm water

4 tablespoons oil

4 tablespoons honey or sugar

2 teaspoons of salt

Mix 3 cups wheat flour with gluten,yeast and warm water; mix 1 minute. Cover bowl and let sponge 10 minutes.

Add oil, honey or sugar, and salt, Quickly add remaining flour one cup at a time until the dough forms a ball and cleans from the sides of bowl (depending on humidity, sometimes I have to add a total of 7 cups of flour for the dough to feel right). Knead 7-10 minutes. Roll into 2 or 3 loaves (depending on pan size). Preheat oven to 200 degrees and put the loaves in. Rise dough in oven until double, 20 - 30 minutes (you can also just rise the loaves on the counter if you have time). Leave in oven. Turn heat to 350 degrees and bake for 25 minutes. Remove from pans to cool. Coat with butter.

If you have Vitamin C and rapid rising yeast, try Emily's recipe: http://preparednessmatters.blogspot.com/2009/07/cooking-with-basic-food-storage-yummy.html

Provident Living: Finding Fun in Frugality

I've been thinking a lot about frugality lately. Maybe it's because of the lack of security our family feels in this job market or maybe because of the counsel given by President Monson to the priesthood brethren last October: "We urge all Latter-day Saints to be prudent in their planning, to be conservative in their living, and to avoid excessive or unnecessary debt."- President Thomas S. Monson, October 2008 Priesthood Session, General Conference

So often, we want our families to have what others have. Sometimes when I visit a beautifully furnished and decorated home, I feel my house is inferior and I need to go furniture shopping. When a friend tells me that a particular toy or electronic gadget greatly entertains her child, I feel like I should buy it for my kid. When I look at a beautifully dressed person, I believe my clothes need updating or accessorizing. However, this type of thinking is actually coveting. The "Keeping up with the Jones mentality" is one of Satan's tools, designed to make us miserable, either by buying things we don't need which clutter up our homes, buying things we can't afford and getting into financial trouble or by wishing we had something we don't have instead of counting our blessings. Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin said, "All too often a family's spending is governed more by their yearning than by their earning. They somehow believe that their life will be better if they surround themselves with an abundance of things. All too often all they are left with is avoidable anxiety and distress."

We have all heard the phrase "money doesn't buy happiness." It is actually true! Tim Kasser, Associate Professor of Psychology at Knox College and author of “The High Price of Materialism,” conducted a study of people in the same zip code within the same age group. The study compared people with a consumer mentality (typical consumer-driven middle class) versus “voluntary simplifiers” who downscaled their lives by buying less and even working in lower paying jobs. Surprise, surprise! Voluntary simplifiers were much happier while people with a consumer mentality lived lives of anxiety, depression and physical problems.

My husband and I have friends who live a life of voluntary simplicity. At the time that we were neighbors, my husband and I were busy commuting and working in the corporate world (before we had children.) Meanwhile, our friends had a small business which paid their basic necessities but didn't allow for many extras. They didn't subscribe to expensive cable/satellite service or eat out at pricey restaurants. Instead, they enjoyed listening to music on CDs, reading books and watching movies they borrowed at the library. They called their visit to the library "Lover's Night Out." They took walks, found free hiking trails, and explored local towns and historical sites for entertainment. Even though my husband and I could go to a movie or a see Broadway show anytime we wanted and visit the nicest restaurants around, we were stressed out all the time and exhausted. Our friends, on the other hand, were happy and content. There is a lesson to be learned from our neighbors. Frugality can be fun!!

So with the new year, I am determined to find fun in frugality, live life more simply, and count my blessings more often. How about you? How can you live a more joyful, simple life? Please share your thoughts.

Cooking with Food Storage: Wheat Bread Machine Bagels

Wheat Bread Machine Bagels
3/4 cup water -- lukewarm
1 1/4 cups white bread flour
3/4 cup wheat flour
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 1/3 tablespoons gluten
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

Directions:

1. Insert ingredients in bread machine according to manufacturer's instruction s. Remove the dough from the machine after the first knead - approximately 20 to 30 minutes.
2. Place dough on a floured surface. Divide into 5 parts. Form balls, gently press thumb through center of ball and slowly stretch into bagel shape.
3. While bagels rise, bring three quarts of water and one tablespoon of sugar to a rapid boil in a large saucepan. Drop test dough (see hints below).
4. Using a slotted spoon, drop 2-3 bagels into rapidly boiling water. Boil on each side for 1/2 minutes. Remove and cool on rack 1 minute, brush with egg and sprinkle with sesame or poppy seeds, if desired.
5. Bake at 400 on a baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal, until golden - approximately 15 minutes.

** Bagel Success Hints
** When forming the bagels, set aside two 1/4" balls of dough. When the bagels have doubled in size, drop the test dough into boiling water. The dough should pop to the top right away. When this happens, it is time to boil the bagels.

** A quick spray of non-stick vegetable coating on the top of the bagel may be substituted for the egg wash.

** To make bagel sticks, cut bagel before rising and lay out in a straight line . Roll sticks in a combination of sesame and poppy seeds with a pinch of garlic powder. Let sticks rise, boil, and bake as described in the above direction s.

** To make bagel chips, slice leftover bagels horizontally into thin slices. Brush with butter or margarine on one side. Lay (butter side up) on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 325 for 12-15 minutes until golden brown and crisp.

Source: http://wholewheatcookbook.blogspot.com/