Dried Pears -- Tasty Treat

My kids and I have a kind of food love affair with dried fruit. We love to snack on dried apples, pineapple, raisins, and apricots. When I tasted some dried pears my sister had packed on her latest road trip -- I knew that a good portion of my half box of pears would make its way onto the dehydrator. I love it when I get good ideas from my sisters. So this is an easy way to use up a surplus of pears. And they are tasty. I am getting ready to make up a second batch now.

Tip: Don't dehydrate them so long that they become completely crisp. Leave them a little chewy but not moist.

This is a really simple process but you need a dehydrator. If you don't have one consider borrowing or going in on one with a friend. I shared the cost of my dehydrator with a good friend.

Pears -- Depends on dehydrator but I would set aside about 10.
Fruit Fresh (this inhibits discoloration and can be found near the canning supplies)
Sugar -- Just a pinch or two.

Peel, slice and decore pears.
Sprinkle with fruit fresh and gently toss.

Place slices on drying racks and sprinkle each with a pinch of sugar.

Dehydrate until desired doneness. Mine usually takes about 4 hours.

Store in an airtight container.

Egg Substitute for Baking

Suggested Food Storage/Pantry Item: unflavored gelatin

So let's say something crazy happens like over half a billion eggs are recalled for salmonella. I know its crazy. Who would ever imagine such a thing happening. But let's say after such a food disaster you throw out your eggs and head to the farmer's market to buy fresh local eggs. Local eggs taste better and are usually healthier but they are also more expensive and in my neck of the woods less available in large quantities. Therefore I treasure each of those eggs and prefer not to use them for baking. Reason #1 this week that I am grateful for unflavored getlatin.

Reason #2. Let's say you are baking in the kitchen with 10 eight and nine year olds and some of your eggs get broken and there are no more left to finish the baking product. Voila! unflavored gelatin.

Unflavored gelatin combined with water may be a little bit of magic. I almost can't believe that you can replace it and water for eggs. Not only is it a great emergency substitution, it is a guilt free solution for those who are watching their cholesterol or want to lick the batter bowl.

And it works. I recently made zucchini bread and I often find myself using it when I have a shortage of eggs. Granted it only works for baking.

So here is how it works.
For 1 egg
Combine 1 tsp unflavored gelatin with 3 Tablespoons cold water and 2 Tablespoon plus 1 tsp boiling water. Allow to stand while preparing other ingredients.

Unflavored gelatin is available with the flavored gelatins or you may buy it in bulk at a health food store or google unflavored gelatin bulk on line.

Good luck and be brave and give it a try.

Uses for Leftover Cranberry Sauce

Nobody in my husband's family likes cranberry sauce. So, it is usually just me and my daughters eating it at Thanksgiving dinner. But I don't care. I make lots of it anyway because I know that I am going to be eating the leftovers all week. And I have lots of delicious uses for leftover cranberry sauce.

Here are three of my favorites:

Cranberry pomegranate tarts.

Crust

1/2 Cup butter or margarine, softened

1/2 Cup cream cheese, softened

1 Cup all-purpose flour

Beat butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add flour; and beat until a soft dough forms. Form into a ball and chill in plastic wrap for at least one hour.

Preheat oven to 425.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place a ball into mini muffin or tart pan. Dip a spoon or tart shaper into flour; press into dough to form tart shells.

Filling

cranberry sauce

pomegranate arils

canned peaches or fresh peach slices

Fill tarts with a spoonful of cranberry sauce. Top with pomegranates and a peach slice.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Cool in pan 5 minutes, carefully remove tart shells from pan.

Stir it into your oatmeal for a warm tangy breakfast treat on a cold morning.

BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS

OK I don't really know what the breakfast of champions is. But this breakfast makes me feel uber-healthy.

Plain yogurt for a little digestive health

a handful of uncooked oatmeal for cholesterol and heart health

and cranberry sauce for antioxidants.

A dash of cinnamon for blood sugar control.
Yep it is good stuff.

What is your favorite way to eat leftover cranberry sauce?

Lunchbox Tip/ Peanut Butter Chocolate sandwiches

Pantry Storage Suggestion: Nutella. Every pantry needs at least one bottle of this stuff.

Are your kids already suffering from lunch box burnout. I make my kids lunch everyday almost and frankly it was time to make an easy meal that would bring a couple lunch time smiles to my kids' faces. So, I did it. I unveiled my, until now, secret jar of that heavenly chocolate/hazelnut spread, Nutella. Yep. I have been hoarding this little treasure in the pantry all to myself until now. So, this is not a recipe it is just a reminder how delicious Nutella and peanut butter sandwiches can be and that you are guaranteed to be Mom of the Day if you share your secret stash. Homemade bread makes this sandwich even tastier. Of course, now I really have to hide the stuff because they were instant addicts. And that stuff is not cheap. I wish we could buy this stuff in bulk somewhere. Now that I have to share it is going to disappear much faster. I am definitely not sharing my stash of Hershey's dark chocolate with pomegranate bits.

And just so you know that I am now wasting your time with an easy tip you probably could have figured out yourself here are a couple other Nutella goodies.

Just in case you are a die hard make it yourself cook here is a recipe for homemade nutella

And for a grown up Nutella sandwich try Velveeta Ain't Food's Wabanini

Freezing Zuchinni Tips

Pretty little green things. I do love zucchini. Of course it is that time of year when your neighbors decide to gift you with their extra monsters from the garden, and not just one mind you, but several. I found several monsters on my doorstep Sunday evening, courtesy of my SIL who had received them from her neighbor. I am actually grateful for the zucchini, my plants have yet to give me even one squash. However, some of them were so big they inspired my son to pantomime hitting a baseball with one. It was time to get down and dirty with the shredder on my Bosch. Let's just say that in an act of sympathy for all of you other owners of prolific bounties of zucchini, I may just give you a zucchini week. How better to start the week off than a tip on how to freeze some of that zucchini. I always crave zucchini bread in the winter when all that is available is the scrawny pickings at the grocery store. I am happy to say that I am now the proud owner of 4 bags of 2 cup portions of shredded zucchini in my freezer, and I am only halfway through the pile sitting on my counter.

Shred zucchini at a medium grate. Two big of a grate and you have shreds acceptable for salads but not for the finer baked items. Two fine and you have pure liquid. If you are shredding large zucchinis scoop out or cut out the seed center. Those big squash have big seeds that just create a mess if not removed.

Using a steam basket or wire mesh strainer, place 1 to 2 cups of zucchini in strainer. Place strainer in a saucepan - three inches above a couple inches of water. Cover and steam for 5 minutes. Allow zucchini shreds to cool before placing in freezer pint or quart bags in 2 cup portions.

Tip: I place my small bags in a large gallon size freezer bag in order to keep track of all the baggies. You can also steam and freeze zucchini slices. Use frozen zucchini in baked items, soups or spaghetti sauce. Or try them in a delicious moist Chocolate Zucchini Cake -- Recipe coming tomorrow.

Mmm Mmm Tip Banana Storage

Well, Banana Week is over and I promise there will be no banana recipes next week. I did however want to end the week with a few storage tips I have received this week as people have heard about the banana marathon. I will be trying all of these because I have several bananas left.

1. Cut bananas in half and wrap individually or flash freeze. Place in the freezer to be used for chocolate dipped bananas. Thank you to From Our Tummies to Yours.

2. Puree banana and place in ice cube trays to be used later for smoothies. Thank you Frieda from Lovin from the Oven.

3. Mash 3 bananas at a time and freeze in individual quart size freezer bags. Pull out when you are ready to bake banana bread.

Tropical Banana Update: I did make the tropical banana bread but I got a little flustered in the middle of baking when my son came and asked me how to fill water balloons so he could hit them with his bat. I totally mixed the recipe wrong. It turned out OK but it was not spectacular.

MMM MMM Tip/ bulk seasoning resource

I just wanted to share this fantastic resource with my readers. As I have been cooking more regularly with my food storage I have discovered many things. One of those things is that yes, I do actually use that much salt and honey and if I want a good food storage I need to stock up on the basics. I have also discovered that I like to have seasonings and spices on hand. I recently stocked up on things like dried orange zest, coconut milk powder, cinnamon, dehydrated green peppers and banana chips all at an amazing price. I think $2.75 for a pound of banana chips is a great price. I use these guys a lot in my granola or as healthy snacks.

Here is my source: San Francisco Herb Co. They have every dried seasoning, or herb you could think of and some you probably have not thought of. They also carry baking products and potpourri products.

Sorry no pic.

Homemade Butter, Sour Cream and Buttermilk

When my friend told me she was making homemade butter, I could only think how hopelessly naive I really am in this provident living stuff. When I tasted her sour cream and butter I was hooked. I needed to know how to do this, especially because I always run out of sour cream long before grocery day and I always have left over cream sitting, waiting, longing to be used before it goes bad. And so because of my inexperience with homemade dairy products, I asked her to be a guest blogger. Thank You Heather. I could not have loved you more than when you brought me a can of freshly made buttermilk. I will be bringing you a strawberry orange muffin in exchange.

Dairy 101 by Heather

If you find a great deal on cream or just want to pamper yourself with really fabulous butter, making butter is easier than you think.

You need:

Heavy whipping cream

3 Tb of olive oil

Sea Salt to taste

Take heavy whipping cream out of the refrigerator and let it warm on the counter for about an hour. Shake well and pour into an automatic mixer with a whip(I use my Bosch), place a cover on and beat on high for approx. 4 minutes. You know you are done with this step when it turns a grainy texture and a thin milky liquid starts splashing up onto your cover.

BUTTERMILK

With a rubber spatula, scrape around the edges of the bowl and scrape out your whip, until the mixture starts to form a ball. Drain and reserve the liquid. The reserved liquid is your buttermilk (its OK if there are still little chunks of butter, that makes it yummy).

BUTTER

Take bowl to the sink and wash the ball in cold water, using the spatula to smash and stir while washing all the butter. Drain any liquid, continue to mash and drain until butter no longer releases liquid (usually only a minute or two), then dump butter into a dry bowl and stir in olive oil and salt to taste. The olive oil will keep it softer and more spreadable. This will yield about 1 1/2 lbs of butter.

Tip: If I am making several batches I line a cake pan with wax paper and spread out the butter , cover and refrigerate. Then in a few hours I can cut it into cubes and wrap them in wax paper, then freeze.

SOUR CREAM

To make sour cream you simply add 1 cup unwhipped cream to 1/4 cup of buttermilk, stir well, cover and let sit out on the counter for 24 hours. Refrigerate at end of 24 hours. It takes up to 48 hours for it to reach its maximum thickness. If you like your sour cream strong, then add more buttermilk.

Mmm Mmm Tip: A Tasty little read

I found this article today and thought Wow, I was right it is mostly cheaper to make my own staples. For all you frugal eaters and cooks out there I thought I would share the link. CLICK HERE

Mmm Mmm Tip: Bag Your Recipes

I am not very organized. In fact organization often eludes me. Therefore this next tip is decidedly not my own, although I think it is clever. One, talented food storage maven suggests keeping several recipe bags in your food storage. A recipe bag is a large Ziploc with all or most of the ingredients for a specific recipe. The photo above is an example of my pesto alfredo and red and white chili recipe. Each bag should also include a copy of the recipe. I did run out of room for everything in the red and white chili recipe. So either I need to have some larger Ziplocs on hand or use two bags for some recipes. There are a couple of benefits to bagging several of your favorite food storage recipes in this manner.
1. You don't have to go searching through all your piles (did I say piles, I meant beautifully arranged rows of cans and pantry items) to throw together an easy quick meal.
2. You don't have to take constant inventory of what is still available in your pantry. You already know what meals are readily available.
3. Once you empty a bag you simply restock it from your storage or add the ingredients to your grocery list. You have the recipe right there.
I thought this was a clever way to simplify your food storage cooking plan. My goal this week is to do at least 7 meals in bags. Then on those days when I am having a cooking block I can just go grab a bag.

MMM Tip! Salsa Starts -- Time To Garden

Several years ago we were without a steady income. During that time I was allowed to garden my inlaws' vacant lot. That garden saved me that Summer. It fed my family vegetables when we could barely afford milk. I learned that gardening is a vital factor of food storage, especially if you want canned and frozed food that actually has flavor. I vowed I would always grow some of my own food after the miracle of that Summer. I continue to grow my own veggies every year. And the past couple years I have started my own tomatoes from seed.

I love tomatoes. In an effort to be efficient and save money so I can grown as many tomatoes as my little garden can hold, I start several varieties. I am a salsa fanatic, which means I hate store bought salsa. I have to stock up on my own homemade salsa so I can continue to chomp down on a little bite of sunshine and fire throughout the cold months. I am down to 4 jars and I am in panic mode. I promise to share my salsa recipe when I stir up another batch. I start my planning far in advance of harvest season. Whether it is berries (I have those too), spinach, zucchini or tomatoes and peppers, it is time to start thinking about planning a garden. Everyone has a little patch of sunshine. If all you have room for is one or two tomato plants in a grow box or pot (I have gardened on a cement patio before) the experience and the self satisfaction that comes from growing your own food will be amazing, not to mention tasty. That is, if you are successful. I have had as many failures as successes. So don't give up. This year I started green peppers from seed. We will see how that goes.

Starting seedlings is easy. It's the keeping them alive that can get a little tricky. So where do you start? Most seed companies have their own patented mini greenhouse design, many of which are on my wish list. But really, a large $6 Jiffy seedling starter kit with a cover will do the trick. I planted over 30 plants and my tomatoes were extending little green tendrils within a few days. Tomatoes should be started 4-6 weeks before the planting date for your region. Green peppers need a little longer - 6 to 8 weeks. You will need to transplant your seedlings to a larger pot before planting. Google your local extension service for more details.


Now is also a good time in several regions to plant peas, lettuce, spinach, broccoli, and onion starts.

Mmm Mmm Tip: Little Bites Of Spring

Sprouting is instant gratification gardening, especially when we are desperately awaiting Spring. Lentil sprouts tossed into a weeknight salad add fresh, crisp, surprising flavor. I have to admit I sprout the easy way by using a sprouter. It was so simple, my kids supervised this little project. So, just in case you are a sprout lover here is a link to this nifty friend of the pantry cook. www.sproutamo.com. Of course, you can always sprout your lentils, wheat, mung beans, alfalfa using the traditional method.
P.S. Sprouts are vitamin packed powerhouses.