Taste Test Tuesday: Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

When I first saw this recipe (maybe on Our Best Bites?? can't remember where), I thought really? can you really make good cookies without flour?  Yes.  These Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies turned out great.  I used crunchy peanut butter (that is why you see lots of nuts in the picture of the cookies) and it still turned out fine.

Enjoy!

Taste Test Tuesday: Beach Street Chicken

MMM.... Today's recipe, Beach Street Chicken, is so yummy!  I got this recipe from here:  http://dealstomeals.blogspot.com/2009/03/my-favorite-pasta-recipe.html.  It is delicious.  This works great to use a sun oven to cook the chicken, it also is a great prepare ahead recipe (freezing the chicken with the marinade ingredients).

Enjoy!

Taste Test Tuesday: 60 Minute Rolls

Mmm...homemade rolls.  Today's recipe I got from a sister at Relief Society back more than a few years ago.  I have made it many times, each time loving it.  I have other roll recipes that turn out delicious too, but this one from start to finish is only about 1 hour, so less than the other roll recipes that require more rising time and such.  Also this recipe calls for a mixer to do the kneading, rather than by hand.  I'm sure it could be hand-kneaded, but that is one thing I like about this recipe is the ease in making it.

The milk in this recipe can be made using dry milk powder, either premade or to make just one cup of milk using dry milk powder thoroughly mix 1 cup of water with 3 T of dry milk.  I've used all purpose flour almost every time I've made this and never had a problem, so even though it states that bread or high gluten flour is best I've not found that it is necessary to have a delicious roll when all is said and done.

Enjoy!

Taste Test Tuesday: Black Bean Pumpkin Chili

Today I want to share a recipe I got from my sister:  Black Bean Pumpkin Chili.  This chili is great because leftover turkey from Thanksgiving or Christmas or any other turkey dinner can be used.  It's use of healthy things like veggies, beans, pumpkin and turkey (a little healthier than red meat, right?), olive oil make it a winner, too.  Instead of fresh veggies, dried or frozen could be used instead.

Enjoy!

Taste Test Tuesday: Replacing oil with beans in box mixes

Yesterday I shared my review on the cookbooklet:  New Ideas for Cooking with Basic Food Storage.  Today I am sharing one of the tips from that booklet:  to replace fats in baked goods with beans.  To help make it not as scary to use beans instead of fats like oil, start with box mixes for brownies and cakes then try from-scratch recipes.

Replacing oils:  puree cooked beans in the blender--add a little water as necessary to puree.
Replacing butter/shortening/margarine:  mash cooked beans, adding more liquid if necessary to recipe.

Enjoy!

Taste Test Tuesday: Bacon Green Beans, Red Hot Apple Pie

Today's recipes come from my sister.  They can use fresh, frozen or canned veggies/fruits.  Or dried apples rehydrated for the apple pie.  The first recipe is Bacon Green Beans.  I used frozen beans and it turned out great, not the healthiest of side dishes with all the bacon and butter, but yummy.

The second recipe is Red Hots Apple Pie.  This was yummy warm, but once it cooled the red hots did harden a little, so I would suggest eating it warm with ice cream.  If you aren't a fan of cinnamon candies, simply leave them out.  This is a very simple and easy pie recipe.

Enjoy!

Saturday School: Homemade Cheese using dry milk

Saturday School:  Homemade cheese from dry milk

I got this recipe from the dry milk handout found on peaceofpreparedness (see below).  I thought I’d give it a try.

Here is my experience trying it:  Mixing 3 c of dry milk into 4 cups takes a few minutes to get it all mixed, it also creates a lot of froth on top.  Heating it to 115* didn’t take long at all.  As soon as I added the oil and vinegar, the milk started to curd.  I still waited another 5-10 minutes, but it didn’t seem to curd a whole lot more after I initially added the vinegar/oil.  In fact, it curded so quickly that stirring the oil and vinegar into it left a clump of curd in my whisk that I had to use a knife to cut out.

I used a slotted spoon to scoop out the curds, since my bowl would have been too small for all the liquid at once if I had just poured the curds and whey into the cheesecloth lined strainer.  I twisted the cheesecloth to close it off and squeeze out the excess liquid.  I used dental floss to tie the ball of curds into a hanging position over a bowl to catch more liquid drain-off.

The results:  It was crumbly like the grated parmesan cheese from the store, similar in taste-somewhat.  I couldn’t grate it because it would just crumble.  Best for salads or on top of pasta I think.  I used about 1 T worth of salt when I made it and it wasn't too salty.  Taste wise--as it isn't bursting with flavor, it compliments parmesan cheese and things that are made with it, but by itself, I didn't think it had too much taste of its own.

Here are the pics from my first time making cheese this way:

Making Cheese with dry milk powder:

http://peaceofpreparedness.com/Resource%20Library/Recipies/Got%20Milk%20handout%202011.pdf

http://peaceofpreparedness.com/Resource%20Library/Recipies/Got%20Milk%20Recipes%202011.pdf

Cheese

Mix 4 c. water and 3 c. dry non-instant milk in large saucepan, heat until 115°. Add 2/3 c. oil and 1 3⁄4 c. white vinegar. Stir and let sit for 10 minutes.

When curds (cheese clumps) separate from whey (watery stuff) then pour them into a cheesecloth lined strainer.

Mix salt into curds. Pull up sides of cheesecloth, twist just above cheese, squeezing out water as you twist. Tie with string and hang overnight, hanging over bowl. Unwrap and grate.

Taste Test Tuesday: Biscuit Donuts

Today's recipe is really easy.  Donuts made from biscuit dough--store bought ones make it so easy to make!  They can be made in a frying pan on the stovetop or over coals in a dutch oven. MMM.

Enjoy!

Taste Test Tuesday: Grilled Pizza

The pizza dough recipe I am sharing today is one of my favorites--it is the one I use most often.  It works great in the oven, or as showing today on the grill.  I grilled the first side a little too long (as the pictures show), but it still turned out great, a nice and crispy crust.  I used a volcano grill this last time when I made this pizza.  I got this pizza recipe from a Relief Society meeting a few years back.  I've used this recipe using all-purpose flour, but also using a combination of wheat flour and all-purpose flour--both have turned out fine--I do add a little bit more yeast when using wheat flour.

Here are the during pictures:  the first is after flipping the crust over and putting the toppings on, the second shows the Volcano oven lid to help bake the pizza and melt the cheese the rest of the way.  I used regular pizza sauce and cheese rather than the olive oil mentioned in the recipe above.

Taste Test Tuesday: Peach Crisp

MMM...peaches!  Today's peach crisp recipe was created when I had a few peaches that I needed to use, it turned out yummy.  I used whole wheat flour instead of white flour, and it still tasted great.

Enjoy!

Taste Test Recipe catch up: Wheat recipes

The recipes I am sharing today use wheat (or not).  The first, Hamburger Casserole, I didn't include wheat in the recipe but it is the same as the other ground meat recipes, simply add 1/4 c or more of cooked wheat berries or cooked cracked wheat.  The great thing about adding wheat to ground meats, is it doesn't stand out taste wise.

Next is Hamburger Pie, again a great recipe to add wheat to as well as beans and dried veggies.

And now chip dip.

Popped wheat doesn't use ground meat, but I wanted to share it anyway.  Be sure to pop wheat without any oils or butter so that when it starts popping up, it won't hit you and burn you.  Simply add any oils & seasonings after it has been popped.  I noted that this is much harder to chew than popcorn, so I wouldn't recommend giving it to young children or anyone who can't chew hard/crispy foods.  It is a tasty snack otherwise though.

Taste Test Tuesday: 5 Dry Milk Recipes

Milky May:  Today as sort of a grand finale of Milky May I will be sharing 5 recipes rather than one that use dry milk.  First, I will highlight 3 recipes I have tried from the wonderful dry milk recipe handout found here:  http://peaceofpreparedness.com/Resource%20Library/Recipies/Got%20Milk%20Recipes%202011.pdf.Then I will share a recipe using a recipe from www.everydayfoodstorage.net that I have tried and liked.  And lastly a peanut butter no bake cookie using prepared dry milk.

The recipe in the handout for this is actually called Bacon Brunch Pie, but as I was making it I thought it was more like a crustless quiche and so thought of it as Basic Quickmix Quiche, with either name, it is good.  I thought it would go great with sausage or other meats like ham or even browned ground beef.  I used fresh eggs instead of egg powder when I made it.  I also didn't use bacon bits as the original recipe calls for but cooked bacon crumbles/pieces.  I also added the tomatoes thinking to serve some shredded lettuce on top for a kind of BLT quiche.  Whether by itself or with lettuce with it, it had the consistency of quiche or scrambled eggs with veggies in it.

Another recipe from this great handout:  Country Gravy

MMM.  This gravy was yummy.  It is much like the gravy that can be made with Magic mix.  I like them both as they are both quick and easily seasoned to taste.

And again from peaceofpreparedness handout:  Pasta Primavera

I added cooked chicken to this as well--adding it with the rehydrated veggies--it did make it so there wasn't as much creamy sauce--just enough to coat everything lightly so if you do like more sauce with your veggies and pasta, you will need to add more of the sauce ingredients:  flour, dry milk, sour cream and water.  Depending on how hot or mild you want it, you will want to adjust the dried pepper and crushed red pepper amounts.  As is, it was ok for me but a little hot for others--it really depends on individual likes.

Now onto another source for great food storage recipes:  www.everydayfoodstorage.net.  The Chocolate Cake Cookie Mix recipe below is using the chocolate cake mix found here:  http://everydayfoodstorage.net/2012/02/27/making-your-own-cake-mixes-food-storage-style-dark-chocolate-cake/food-storage-recipes, there is also a great handout about making your own cake/muffin mixes and how to adapt recipes to mixes--see the above post link for that.  So onto cake mix cookies using this cake mix recipe.

I'll admit I like this cake mix made into cookies much better than when I made it into cake using the recipe shown on everydayfoodstorage.net.  When it comes to chocolate cake I like the homemade-made-from-scratch chocolate cake much better than this cake mix or store-bought cake mixes.  But this cake mix does make excellent chocolate cookies!!!  They are so yummy!  The variations my family has tried:  using peanut butter chips (I think we also added chocolate chips when using peanut butter chips); using white chocolate chips and chocolate chunks, just chocolate chunks.  ALL variations were delicious.  When using teaspoon to tablespoon sized balls, it makes around 50 cookies.  Also, if using melted butter instead of softened butter, you will need a little more mix.  Also, this is a batter that unless you have a powerful mixer, you will need to mix by hand--especially as you add more mix to make the dough stiff and add chocolate chips--a wooden spoon works great for mixing.

And now for another cookie recipe:  Peanut Butter No Bakes

This no bake cookie recipe comes from a church congregation cookbook that I have, it simply calls for milk, I simply adapted it to use dry milk and even cooked cracked wheat.  Great with or without the cooked cracked wheat.

Enjoy!

I hope the recipes I have shared this month, as well as in the past, have been helpful in giving ideas on using dry milk.  For more recipes that use dry milk, click on labels then dry milk or go to the recipe index page and look for recipes that indicate they use dry milk.  Enjoy!

Taste Test Tuesday: Magic Mix

Milky May:  2 recipes today:  Garlic Rosemary Chicken and Magic Mix

Garlic Rosemary Chicken:  This recipe uses Magic Mix--recipe & information below.  With the amount of chicken I used as shown in the picture, there was just enough of the creamy sauce to coat the chicken rather than having chicken in sauce to top the rice.  The amounts of chicken and sauce can be adjusted to family likes--whether you like having chicken in a creamy sauce or having chicken lightly coated by the creamy sauce.  The seasonings can also be adjusted as well as replaced with other seasoning blends.  Freezer meal alert:  this freezes well, simply reheat in a microwave--works good to make individual servings or family size servings.

Magic Mix can be used for sauces, gravies, puddings, cream soups, etc.  I have made all of these using Magic Mix in the past, including making homemade fudge-cicles-mmm.  It is really a nice mix to have on hand for making quick meals that need white sauces, gravies, soups, etc.  It works really great with recipes that use cheese--parmesan, cheddar, mozzarella--things like chicken alfredo, macaroni and cheese, casseroles that use cream soups and cheese.

Enjoy!

Here are some websites with more information on Magic Mix and recipes to use them:

http://www.theideadoorfiles.com/index.php/self-reliance-food-storage-prepardness/161-preparedness/food-storage/203-basic-food-storage-booklet --this leads to a recipe booklet for items sold by LDS home storage centers, it includes recipes using dry milk and Magic Mix.  Love this recipe booklet, many useful recipes.

http://extension.usu.edu/files/publications/publication/pub__3295363.pdf --Utah State extension Magic Mix pamphlet, uses instant powdered milk

http://extension.usu.edu/duchesne/files/uploads/FCS/Freezer%20Meals/freezer%20meals%20agogo_packet.pdf--includes a recipe or two that uses Magic Mix

http://cru.cahe.wsu.edu/CEPublications/em4693/em4693.pdf  --Washington State’s extenstion Magic Mix pamphlet

Taste Test Tuesday: Whole Wheat Basic QuickMix

Milky May:  Today I will actually be sharing a few recipes, because they use the same basic mix that I want to share.  Not only does it use whole wheat flour but it also uses dry milk powder.   The recipe for this Whole Wheat Basic Quickmix I got from a friend from Michigan, she is one of the ones who got me started with my zeal for using wheat often and in different ways many years ago.  So on to the quickmix recipes...

I love this mix, it makes delicious biscuits!  And it is whole wheat!!!

MMM, just thinking about these biscuits.  I've made them plain, I've also made them with additional seasonings and cheese, both are delicious.  If I haven't shared my apple cheese biscuits in the past, I will have to share that another time, but this recipe will also work by adding shredded cheese and rehydrated dried apples.  The picture above were ones I made with shredded mozzarella and italian seasoning.

My kids love chocolate chip pancakes--I've used both regular sized semi-sweets and mini, the minis don't sink to the bottom of the batter as easily as the regular sized chips do (this is true for breads and muffins too).  You can also add a little peanut butter, or pumpkin, apples and cinnamon, etc. for some different flavors--adjust the liquid/oil slightly as needed.  For the pancakes, I made them without any oil, but if you would like you could add 1-2 T of melted butter or oil to the batter--this is where pumpkin or peanut butter would replace the oil rather than adjusting the liquid.  As for the waffles, I made them after mixing up the pancake batter, I doubled the recipe, then after using about half of it for pancakes, I mixed in some oil (no extra egg this time) and they turned out fine, though I think having the extra egg would be better, so the oil amount above is actually just a guess-timate, it could be as much as 3/4 cups, but I think I used at least 1/2 c worth.

Tomale Pie is another recipe that can use this quickmix, but it is also very good with cornbread.  I share this recipe, because it is good but also it shows that the biscuit mix/cornbreads can be used as a crust of sorts for pot-pies and such.  This is also a good recipe to add dried veggies-like carrots, onions, peppers, etc.

Enjoy!