Italian White Bean Soup

Funny story.  I made this recipe from my head yesterday, I wrote down the ingredients on a recipe card so I wouldn't forget, because it turned out so great, and then when I went to put it away in my recipe box, I had already written down the exact same recipe.  A few years ago, I created the exact same thing, and wrote it down.  I guess I really thought these ingredients would be great together.  There is one addition to the recipe this last time around...Balsamic Vinegar.  I am in love with balsamic vinegar.  I found a really wonderful one at Costco, it is so sweet and fragrant.  Adding a little at the end of your cooking time with this soup adds another dimesion of flavor.  This is a really simple recipe, but it is worth writing down twice.  Hope you'll try it and love it too.

Italian White Bean Soup

Fills a big crock pot, feeds my family of 7.  You could easily half this.

1 1/2 lbs Great Northern Beans, soaked overnight, drained, cooked until soft, and drained thoroughly again
6 cups chicken stock
2 small cans diced tomatoes (mine had onions, celery and green peppers in them)
Smoked sausage, cut into bite size pieces
1 heaping tablespoon of minced garlic
1 medium onion
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
1/2 tsp cayenne
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

Soak, rinse and cook white beans, rinse thoroughly.  Add beans, tomatoes, chicken stock, and spices to crock pot. 

Saute' onion, garlic, and sausage in 1 tbsp olive oil until onions are translucent.  If you add onions to the pan first, it will protect the garlic from burning.  Add all to crock pot.

Cook on low for 6 hours.  Before serving, stir in balsamic vinegar. 

I serve mine with a spoonful of brown rice in the middle of the bowl on top of the soup, with a little mozzarella cheese, and on mine I like to add a little extra balsamic vinegar.  The brown rice served with the beans actually creates a complete protein.  You could easily leave the sausage out and have a fantastic vegetarian meal.

(Always make sure you cook your beans before adding them to any recipe with tomatoes, or vinegar.  They drastically slow the cooking process, and you wind up with hard beans.  Plus if you rinse your beans well after you cook them and before you add them to your recipe, it can lower the gassiness:)

Homemade Granola Bars

I got this recipe from Destenee's Activity Days teacher. Isabel's favorite snack in the world is Quaker Chocolate Chip Granola Bars. These taste just like them, and they're homemade. All of these ingredients are things you can have on your storage shelf. They are so yummy. There are a few variations I've tried, and some work better than others.

Dry Ingredients
2 1/2 cups Rice Krispies
2 cups quick-cooking oats
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup peanuts
1/2 cup sweetened coconut
2 tbsp flax seed

Sugar Mixture
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup or honey (corn syrup works better, but the honey is good. You could try half and half to see if they stick together better)
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

Final addition
1/2 cup chocolate chips (or butterschotch chips)

1. prepare a 9x13 pan with non-stick spray (my metal pans worked better than glass pans)
2. In a large bowl, mix all dry ingredients so they are ready for the hot sugar mixture.
3. In a sauce pan, make sugar mixture. Combine brown sugar, corn syrup and honey; bring to a full boil and allow to boil 1 minute. Turn down heat and add peanut butter and vanilla, stirring quickly until smooth.
4. Work quickly - pour the hot sugar mixture over dry ingredients and use two wooden spoons to thoroughly combine ingredients. Stir in chips LAST so they don't melt in the hot mixture.
5. Press mixture very firmly into prepared pan. Keep pressing down until your bars are dense in order to keep them from crumbling later when you cut them.
6. When cool, use a sharp knife to cut into 18 bars ( 1 cut lengthwise and then 9 cuts across)

The possibilities are endless. I wanted more nuts and no dried fruit, but you can substitute raisins, currants, etc. for the 2nd portion of nuts. We've used butterscotch chips, they are wonderful. Make them to your family's tastes. Adam hates peanut butter, so I leave the peanut butter out and add more corn syrup. If you use 1 cup corn syrup, with no peanut butter or honey, they stick together very well and closely resemble the Quaker bars. My family loves these. The peanut butter and honey mixture is more crumbly, but they are so yummy.

Making Whole Wheat Bread

In February, our Relief Society did a whole-wheat bread making class. Most of us have mixers, and can make bread much quicker than by hand, but it is a skill we should have in our back pocket should we need it. We had sisters learning to make bread and sisters who were pros at it, working together. The mentoring made such a difference. You really have to learn what the dough feels like when it's ready, and it was so helpful to have someone there to give me tips. Here is the recipe we used at the class, it makes just one loaf of bread and works great for learning how to make bread by hand.

Whole Wheat Bread
3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup honey
1 cup warm water
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tbsp instant yeast

In a large mixing bowl combine 1 cup of water (at a temperature of 110 to 120 degrees) with one cup of flour and the salt, honey, yeast, oil and milk. Stir well.

Mix in the remaining flour and stir until the dough starts to pull away from the bowl.

Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead the dough for 6 to 10 minutes. You may need to add more flour a little at a time through this process.

Shape into a loaf and put in a lightly greased loaf pan. Loosely cover with lightly oiled plastic wrap and let rise for 30 to 60 minutes until the doughg rises approximately one inch above pan.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place the loaf in the center of the oven and cook for about 40 minutes. After 20 minutes loosely cover the pan with aluminum foil, test if the wheat bread is done by thumping the bottom of the bread, it should sound hollow. Let bread cool on a rack, then serve.

White Chili

This is a great recipe that is easily adaptable for food storage. So tasty, my dad got this recipe from a chili contest at his office. We made it for our Poinsetta Bowl party just before Christmas. Without the cream and sour cream, it's almost identical to Leticia's Chicken White Bean Soup, which I fell in love with a few years ago, and perfect for 3 month supply. Who says food storage can't be delicious? It's wonderful with or without the cream and sour cream, and much healthier without. This recipe fills my big crock pot, so you can scale it down if this is too much for your family. I think this is 3 times the original recipe. You have to try this!!

3 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2 inch cubes (or canned chicken)
3 medium onions, chopped (or dehydrated onions)
4 tsps garlic powder (or fresh garlic, if you have it)
3 tbsp oil
6 cans (14 oz) great northern beans, rinsed and drained
3 cans chicken broth (14 oz)
3 cans chopped green chiles
3 tsp salt
3 tsp ground cumin
3 tsp dried oregano
1 1/2 tsp pepper
3/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 1/2 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cup whipping cream (or half and half)

In a large pot, saute' chicken, onion and garlic powder in oil until chicken is no longer pink. Add beans, broth, chiles, and seasonings. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in sour cream and wipping cream just before serving.

Sarah's Caserole

Sarah made dinner for us last Sunday. It was so nice to come home to a hot dinner! I'm thinking this is adaptable to a 3 month storage shelf meal. Let me know what you think.

1.5 lb ground beef
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 (12 oz) can of corn niblets, drained
1 cup sour cream
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
4 cups cooked small pasta shells
1 (3 oz) can of chow mein noodles, sprinkle on to your liking

Brown ground beef, drain. Combine all ingredients except chow mein noodles. Place in a 9x13 baking dish and top with chow mein noodles.

Bake, uncovered, for 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees. This recipe freezes well if you don't put the chow mein noodles on until you bake it.

Chili Spaghetti

I am working on putting together recipes for our three month supply. This is one I adapted and tried out on my family tonight. We love spaghetti, and we've eaten chili over spaghetti noodles for years. So I created something shelf-able but adaptable to using various ingredients from my food storage. If I were without the advantage of ground beef for the sauce, the canned chili provides the protein that would be missing otherwise. My family loved it. Adam put shredded cheddar on his spaghetti, everyone else used parmesan. This is obviously very easy, and a huge amount. This will provide leftovers for tomorrow for my family of seven. You can scale this down for your family, or use other ingredients such as homemade sauce, canned or dried beans, canned beef, etc. This way was very good, though. I'll post the spreadsheet I'm making for my three month supply as soon as I can.

One 40 oz can Nally Chili
Two 26.5 oz cans Del Monte Pasta Sauce
One 14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes
Two lbs. spaghetti noodles

I combined the first three ingredients in my crockpot and cooked on high for two hours, and cooked the pasta as directed.

Helen's Sweet Potatoes

This recipe is a favorite in our family. It's not Thanksgiving without my Aunt Helen's Sweet Potatoes.

3 c cooked mashed sweet potatoes (2 large cans)
1 c sugar
1/2 c melted butter
2 beaten eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Stir until well mixed, pour into caserole dish.

Topping:
1 c brown sugar
1/3 c flour

Sprinkle over top of the sweet potatoes. Sprinkle additional melted butter over topping until completely covered.

Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.

Pumpkin Delight

I'm taking advantage of the holiday sales on canned pumpkin and sweet potatoes to stock up, they probably won't be cheaper throughout the year. They are both high in vitamins and you can make so many wonderful recipes.

This is one of my favorites. I got this recipe from a sister in our stake presidency. You have to try this one. It's good enough to serve for Thanksgiving pie.

Pumkin Delight

Crust
1 yellow cake mix (reserve one cup for topping)
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 egg

Filling
1 can (large size libby's) pumpkin
2 eggs
2/3 cup milk
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt

Topping
1 cup reserved cake mix
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
To make crust, combine cake mix (minus one cup), melted butter, and egg. Press into a geased 9 x 13 -inch pan.

Combine all filling ingredients and mix until smooth. Pour over crust.

For topping, mix reserved cake mix, cinnamon, and sugar. Cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over filling.

Bake 50 minutes, or until a knife inserted into center comes out clean.

Food Storage Flapjacks

These are the best flapjacks. I don't usually like whole wheat pancakes, they're too heavy for my taste. But this is a great, hearty recipe. The oats and the cinnamon make them wonderful.

4 c quick oats
2 c flour
2 c whole wheat flour (I use white wheat)
1 c brown sugar
1 c powdered milk
3 T baking powder
2 T cinnamon
2 1/2 t salt
1/2 t cream of tartar

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Put in ziplock bag. Use as needed. I usually double the recipe and keep my bags of pancake mix in the freezer so it stores better.

For every 2 cups of mix add the following:

2 beaten eggs
1/3 c oil
1 c water

We had these for breakfast this morning. My kids love them. They'll even eat the leftovers cold out of the fridge for a snack. I've used red wheat and white wheat, both taste great. This is a great recipe to get your family used to wheat.

Thanks so much to my sister's friend Vicki for this recipe.

My First Experience with White Wheat

My husband is allergic to red wheat. He has adverse stomach reactions every time he eats it. He can eat store bought whole wheat bread, but when I use my food storage wheat in homemade bread, pancakes, cookies, etc., he gets sick. So I bought a 5 gallon bucket of white wheat from a contact through our ward. The first thing I did with it was to try out a recipe I found in a self-reliance handout. I put one part wheat to four parts water, (1/3 cup per two adults, but I cooked extra)in my crock pot and let it cook on low overnight. It was the consistency of pearled barley. We ate it for breakfast with brown sugar and milk. I liked it, and my family ate it. My kids love hot ceral. I had a big bowl of leftovers, which I added to my crock pot again with the soup mix from the cannery, some dehydrated carrots from the cannery, beef boulion, hamburger and fresh garlic (cooked). We had a great beef soup for dinner. The starch from the wheat thickened the soup almost to a stew consistency, very hearty. My friends told me I was supposed to crack the wheat in a blender, and it cooks up like cream of wheat. I want to try this, once I get a blender that won't explode when I try to crack wheat in it. I'm glad I tried it this way, though. It's good to know that I can cook my gallons of wheat in a way that my family will eat it, even if I don't have electricity to crack it with.

The best part? It didn't make Adam sick! Now I get to replace all of my red wheat with white wheat, and I know he can eat it.